Waking Up: A New Life
by BattleshipFusou
Summary: Dying was easy, just close your eyes and there it is. But something has interference and I've been given another chance. This time I'm not going to waste it. Rewrite. SI. OC. Reincarnation. Genre Savvy!Smart!Powerful!Fem!Naruto. Potential Trigger.
1. Chapter 1

**Story Tags:** Dark, Gore, Violence, Humor, Fem!Naruto, SI, OC Behavior, Abuse of multiple types, Death, Language

 **Disclaimer:** Sadly nothing in this story belongs to me except perhaps what original ideas there are, Naruto itself belongs to Kisihimoto and not to me sadly. *cries*

 **Author's Note:** Alright, the overall preference of you, my readers, was for this to be posted as a separate story rather than having the new chapters replace the old ones. I've gone at a different pace than before, particularly in regards to Noriko meeting the Kyuubi. My hope is to have smoothed things a bit and made them a bit more logical, and a bit more emotional. That was a big thing, I hadn't been really comfortable with how Noriko had been expressing emotion and I wanted it to be a little more apparent and clear. As always, read and tell me what you think, I really, really appreciate input from my readers.

I will apologize here and now for Kurama's CAPS LOCK yelling. Know that it will be rare after this chapter, so please don't worry too much about it, This is just the fox being an ass in this chapter.

* * *

 **[MC First Person]**

My health had never been the best. From when I was little I was prone to getting sick and as I grew older it only got worse. Between severe and chronic migraines, seizures, and other various issues, I was extremely limited in where I could go in life and what I could do. And now at the age of twenty-five, barely finished with my college education, I found myself laid out in a hospital bed, trying to square the newest revelation with my mind.

I was dying.

Sure it was something I had come to actually expect as I grew older and my illnesses got progressively worse, but to have a man in the standard blue hospital smok stand in front of you and tell you what was going to happen? It was...chilling, I think is the best word to describe it. We all know that we'll die eventually, but when someone gives you a time table saying 'hey you're going to die in six months' it really hits you.

It's about to end.

You're out of time.

You'll never see your loved ones again.

It hurt, not physically, but emotionally and mentally it hurt. I couldn't accept it, I didn't want to accept it. I still had things I wanted to do. Hell, I still had debts to pay off from college! The sheer fact that I wouldn't be able to make any use of my double degree, the masteries I'd worked so hard to achieve, was equally infuriating and depressing. I had years ago pushed most of my hobbies to the side, no longer permitted by my failing health, instead limited to what I could do from a laptop, and now those were useless too.

It just left a gaping hole in my heart to know everything I had accomplished was going to be pointless in the end.

And so I gave up.

It was pitiful, and in hindsight, cruel and wrong of me to do so. I could see the pain on my family's faces when they visited me, the years they shed and the forced smiles they made as they watched me waste away before their very eyes.

And I hated it, and myself too, in hindsight.

I should have done better, I should have made them happier. I should have made it easier on them as they awaited the inevitable. And that will always be my greatest shame, that I didn't do all I could for them.

But as I closed my eyes for the last time, I let oblivion take me, falling away into the comforting blackness as all the aches and pains of my body faded with my life.

* * *

 _'It's strange'_ I thought, _'Shouldn't I be unable to feel anything if I just died?'_ I could feel that I was moving, jostling around a little as I was taken somewhere. There were sounds around me, cries of what I knew to be panic from my time in the hospital, the crackling of dry grass under foot, and shouting. The air carried the heavy scent of blood and ash, so strong that it was almost stifling as I began to move and struggle, now noticing the slightly rough cloth wrapped around my body, providing a comfortable warmth as I opened my eyes, just in time to look up at a smoke filled sky as the movement came to a halt as I felt a solid surface beneath my back as I squirmed in my now loosened constraints.

I could hear someone crying just outside my line of sight as a ghastly presence formed around me, a horrendous chill running down my spine despite my previous warmth as something faded into existence almost directly above me.

 _'WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!'_ I immediately thought.

Its enormous form was clad in some kind of loose fitting white cloth, with dark blue-gray skin covering its exposed and seemingly emaciated chest and its snarling face where a stick or something similar was clenched in between its jaws. Capping everything off was an enormous mane of white-blonde hair that only added to the being's disturbing appearance.

My fascinated horror only lasted a few more scant seconds before it was blocked by the face of a crying my hovering protectively above me. His hair was a bright, vivid yellow, the color of sunshine I briefly considered, before I lost myself in his eyes.

Oh those deep blue eyes. They were perhaps the most beautiful and enticing eyes I had ever seen, filled with emotions that I was struggling to comprehend; sadness, regret, anger, fear, and overwhelming everything else, love.

I couldn't understand why I was wherever I was. I couldn't understand why he was crying. I couldn't understand why he struck me as being almost infuriatingly familiar.

But I could understand what he was saying, and it chilled me to the core, even deeper than the presence of the creature hidden from my view. It is was a series of words that would haunt me for years to come once I finally learned the language.

"Forgive me, Noriko."

I felt my brow struggle to furrow at his words, confused at their almost familiar sound, before blackness swarmed the edges of my vision, rapid footsteps echoing in my ears as I felt my eyes creep shut.

The warmth that had surrounded me began to fade and a chill replaced it, making me shudder as I pulled myself up to my feet, stumbling to my knees as as my head swam before clearing. "Jesus Fucking Christ..." I muttered, "What the fuck was that?"

Bringing my hands up to my head as I sat back I took in my surroundings; dark, wet, messy, and overall rather uninviting. A frown twisted my lips until all the color drained from my face as a deep, bass growl sounded behind me followed by a ridiculously loud voice that left my head ringing.

 **"HUMAN! BASTARD FILTH, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE?!"**

Whirling as quickly as I could, which sent a rather nasty wave of nausea through my system, I found myself face-to-face with what had to be the largest animal I had ever seen, that anyone had ever seen.

Throwing myself backwards, which didn't work too well in my position, I scrambled back several yards which gave me a much better view of the creature before me. There was a niggling thought in my head that said recognized the creature, but that was waylaid as it roared at me and continued yelling.

 **"SPEAK YOU WRETCHED CREATURE! WHY ARE YOU HERE? ARE YOU SOME MOCKERY LEFT HERE BY THAT WRETCHED NINJA?"**

"Ky-K-Kyuubi..." I barely managed to stammer out, pointing a shaking had at the creature I know recognized. The Kyuubi no Youko, the nine-tailed fox, Kurama. It seemed death was the least of my issues now.

 **"SO YOU CAN SPEAK. NOW ANSWER ME YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR LIFE."**

My mouth slammed shut as I struggled to keep my flight instinct from overwhelming me, something that was aides by the supremely oppressive feeling that just pushed down on me.

 **"SPEAK!"**

Finally giving in I spoke, whimpering out a reply as I tried in vain to pull my eyes away from the two bloody red orbs gazing down on me.

 **"SPEAK UP YOU FILTHY MONKEY!"**

"...I-I d-died..." I whimpered softly.

 **"LOUDER!"**

"...I died..." I said again, a little louder, silently praising myself for not stuttering.

 **"LOUDER DAMN IT!"**

I felt something crack at the order from the fox as I finally slammed my eyes shut and yelled back.

"I DIED YOU GREAT-FIERY-THROW RUG!"

Instantly my eyes snapped open as I slapped my hands over my mouth in fear and mortification.

 **"...YOU DIED?"** The fox asked, incredulity somehow coming across in the outrageously loud voice.

Nodding I pulled my hands away from my mouth as I softly said, "I-I died of organ failure in the hospital."

Silence answered me for several moments as a mild stinging pain assaulted my head, quickly growing into a severe headache and making my eyes water as I winced and rubbed my temples.

 **"...CURIOUS..."** The fox said, its massive head tilting slightly to the side as its eyes narrowed in thought, **"I WOULD THINK YOU WERE LYING BUT YOUR MEMORIES SAY OTHERWISE."**

A spike of cold fear settled in my gut before quickly fading as I shivered, looking eyes with the Kyuubi as it looked me over with appraising eyes.

 **"THIS IS...SURPRISING..."**

I quirked an eyebrow in confusion before I felt my memories of the Naruto manga and anime and movies rise to the surface of my mind unbidden as I realized the fox was sorting through my mind, giving me a nasty headache as it did so.

"G-Get the fuck out of my head!" I tried to shout.

 **"QUIET MONKEY, I HAVE YET TO DECIDE IF YOU ARE WORTH DEALING WITH."**

That statement only confused me before I sighed and rubbed my temples, finally feeling the digging sensation in my brain fade away.

"You done yet?" I muttered softly, not expecting a response. It seemed though that I underestimated the prowess of the Kyuubi's ears as it refocused on me.

 **"QUITE. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW THAT...MANGA CAME TO BE, BUT THAT KNOWLEDGE SHOULD BE WORTHWHILE. I DO NOT INTEND TO BE STUCK IN SUCH USELESS VESSEL."**

"That's not my problem, so why are you telling me?" I asked annoyance coming to the forefront as the last of the pain disappeared and the oppressive feeling that I finally decided was killing intent lifted.

There was a deep chuffing sound that took me a moment to classify as I watched the fox's shaking shoulders before I realized that what I was hearing was laughter. Anger burned at the amusement the Bijuu was deriving from me until the fox spoke.

 **"OH HOW WRONG YOU ARE. IT IS MOST CERTAINLY YOUR PROBLEM."**

"And why's that?" I asked warily, a steadily sinking sensation in my gut telling me I wasn't going to like the answer.

 **"IT IS YOUR PROBLEM LITTLE MONKEY, BECAUSE YOU'RE THE 'MAIN CHARACTER' IT WOULD SEEM."**

I stared incredulously at the Kyuubi for several moments moment before I sighed heavily and closed my eyes as I swore.

"Oh for fuck's sake."

The Kyuubi's chuffing laughter followed me into the darkness as I passed out.

* * *

The next few days were blurry while I was awake. I was in a crib for the most part in a large room, and visitors were few and far between. Of course the Sandaime visited often enough and even held and took care of me to a degree, but they were still short visits as the old man was undoubtably dealing with the fallout of the Kyuubi attack.

This left me with far more time to myself to think than I would have liked. As now I wasn't just reacting to what was happening like I had with the Kyuubi, but rather that I had time to think, mull over my options, and consider just what my circumstances meant.

Really it just left me panicking at the fact that A: I had been reborn into a fictional world, and B: I was the main character of said world.

After close to a week, during which time I had been moved into an orphanage which had been so far pleasant enough -they fed me and left me alone so I wasn't complaining- as I had yet to see any of the hatred and dislike that had been present for Naruto in the story.

That time had also allowed me to reach a conclusion: I needed help. I needed help in just about every avenue available if I wanted to even survive, as even if Naruto had managed on his sabotaged education, I wasn't sure that I could.

And since speech was unavailable to me at the moment -all my weak lips and tongue could manage were gurgles- I turned my attention to the only option I had: the Kyuubi.

So I settled in and worked to meditate, trying to force myself into my mind scape so I could talk to the fox. A slow process, but a necessary one. I could tell that the constant calmness and quiet I displayed was worrying and even disturbing to the caretakers of the orphanage, but I set that aside for now, I needed to speak with Kurama and damn the consequences and everything else.

Surprisingly, that was my last thought as I felt my consciousness fade only to return a moment later with the sewer of my mind and the hulking form of the Kyuubi looking down at me from behind the seal.

 **"SO YOU HAVE RETURNED, AND SOONER THAN I EXPECTED. TELL ME WHY YOU ARE HERE MONKEY."**

Grimacing at the condescension in the fox's booming voice, I sat up from where I laid on the floor to meet its crimson gaze, something that sent shivered down my spine despite my best attempt to stay steady.

Finding my mouth suddenly dry, I swallowed and licked my lips quickly before replying, "I...I want to make a deal."

 **"OH? AND WHAT COULD YOU OFFER ME LITTLE MONKEY? I HAVE NO DESIRE FOR FRIENDSHIP OR CAMARADERIE LIKE THAT STORY BOOK CHARACTER."**

The acid in its voice made me wince but I sat up straighter as I replied, "I can offer you your eventual freedom as well as revenge on Uchiha Madara."

 **"MY EVENTUAL FREEDOM? HOW DO I KNOW YOU WOULD HOLD SUCH A PROMISE? AND REVENGE IS SOMETHING I CAN GET ON MY OWN."**

"You don't know, unless you have some way of making binding agreements," I replied, a queasy feeling in my gut as I continued, "Above everything though, if I fail and die, you get to come with me, and if that happens you lose both your freedom and your revenge. So it's really in your best interest to help me."

The Kyuubi's eyes narrowed and the distaste it had for me was palpable as it replied, **"...UNFORTUNATELY, YOU ARE CORRECT..."**

Mentally I cheered at the fox's admission, barely keeping a grin off my face.

 **"...AS SUCH YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO MAKE A DEAL, THEN LET ME HEAR YOUR TERMS."**

Subduing my elation at having gotten this far with the fox after only two meetings, I nodded and began to give my terms.

"First and foremost, I promise you your freedom. I promise that before my death I will see you released back into the world, and should I be captured by Akatsuki and in imminent danger of extraction, I will release you."

That part left a bitter taste in my mouth, but I grimaced and continued.

"I promise that I will put all of my resources and abilities towards the elimination of Uchiha Madara and Zetsu to ensure he disappears forever."

Kyuubi gave a tiny inclination of its head in acknowledgement.

 **"NOW WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME, MONKEY?"**

This was going to be the tricky and complicated part. I had a whole list of things that I would like from the Kyuubi, but I wasn't sure just how many of them I could get. Still, I took and breath a and began to speak.

"I want your advice when I ask for it first off, you've lived for millennia and have seen more than any human ever has, as such I want your advice, should you have any, when I ask for it."

A subtle nod of agreement was the fox's reply.

"I want you to help my body beyond the automatic regeneration. This would include helping my body develop properly despite the diet I'll likely be limited to. Next to that would be improvements to my body, increasing the density and strength of my bones and doing the same for my muscles. I'd also like your help improving my nervous system should it be possible as well as my other physical traits. The methods can be decided upon at a later date."

A pause and then another nod.

"Until such a time as you're freed from me, I would like you to tutor me in the possible techniques and abilities you have seen over the ages. I'll likely ask for specific types, but otherwise it would be up to you what you teach me."

 **"ANYTHING ELSE LITTLE MONKEY?"**

"I want my memories preserved. The information they hold is invaluable so I can't risk them fading with time and disappearing or being distorted."

 **"...SURPRISINGLY WISE OF YOU, MONKEY. I AM IMPRESSED THAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF SUCH FORETHOUGHT."**

I grit my teeth but didn't reply, watching as a grin formed on the Kyuubi's face, the Bijuu obviously aware that the verbal barbs had registered.

"Then is there anyway you want to use to formalize this deal?" I asked, giving our conversation a shove to get going.

 **"YES. WE SHALL BOTH SWEAR UPON OUR SOULS TO INARI-SAMA TO UPHOLD OUR ENDS OF THE AGREEMENT."**

I perked up a little at that, curious that the deity Inari carried over into this new world.

"Alright, then let's do it."

 **"VERY WELL MONKEY, BUT BE AWARE THAT KNOWINGLY FAILING TO UPHOLD THE AGREEMENT WITHOUT THE FORGIVENESS OF THE OTHER PARTY SHALL RESULT IN FORFEITING YOUR SOUL TO INARI-SAMA."**

I nodded and swallowed, not liking how I imagined the aftermath of such a happening proceeding.

 **"THEN GIVE YOUR OATH."**

Without hesitation I did.

* * *

The weeks following a second meeting with the fox to determine what changes would be made to my body, I found it surprisingly easy to behave like a normal baby. This of course meant that I was crying at all hours of the knight, but this was something I just couldn't help.

After all, the Kyuubi was rewiring my entire body all the damn time, making tweaks as it felt they were necessary. This lead to the caretakers of the orphanage finally becoming less concerned about me, though I could see the resentment starting to show in their eyes when they looked at me.

It was a start, but it would be a while before I could be out and functioning on my own.

* * *

The days and weeks crawled by unbearably slowly, my adult mind far outpacing what limited options for interaction there was around me. This included the few story books I had for reading which assisted me in getting down some basic hiragana and katakana thanks to the few times I was read to and a few notes on the side. What helped the most was the fact everyone only spoke Japanese, or at least some dialect of it.

A few words were different, but enough were similar that I could fit them together with increasing speed as I came to understand more and more. This did eventually lead to me asking the Kyuubi why we could understand each other while in my head, the answer to which had been surprisingly simple.

 **"THERE IS NO LANGUAGE IN THE MIND GAKI. CONCEPTS AND INTENTS FORM THE MESSAGE AND OUR MINDS SEND AND RECEIVE THEM THE SAME WAY SO THAT THEY ARE COMPREHENDED."**

It had been a rather enlightening if short conversation which had settled the issue nicely for me.

Back to the present though. I was nearing on my fourth birthday, which thanks to my preserved memories meant that I would soon be tossed out on the street. This would be a blessing and a curse as it would mean that life was going to get infinitely harder, but I would have the opportunity to begin growing stronger without much oversight if any. I could already walk fairly well and speak well enough too, though my vocabulary was a bit lacking.

I had even learned the basics to and the theory behind a number of jutsus, even if I hadn't practiced them, and my chakra control was reasonable. It seemed that being truly aware when my chakra first started becoming tangible meant that I had a much better feel for it than I would bet most others did, and it allowed me to meditate for hours on end, just playing with the flow inside my body.

The best part behind my hopefully-soon-to-be-enormous-growth was that when the Kyuubi preserved my memories, it meant that the entirety of everything was crystal clear when I thought about it. Every page of every book, every face of everyone, and every lesson of every class.

Everything.

That meant that as soon as I had the room and privacy, I could try all the jutsus I had read about on the Naruto wikia that had always seemed so epic.

That said, it also meant that I remembered EVERYTHING.

I was truly and completely mortified by some of the memories that the Kyuubi had dredged up to taunt me with.

I really, really hadn't wanted to remember just how embarrassingly I had behaved that day in the fifth grade.

Seriously, I didn't.

And for that reason the Kyuubi turned it into a game of trying to mess up my concentration with whatever shameful, embarrassing memories it could locate.

Still I had more to prepare for, and just thinking wasn't going to get anything done for me.

* * *

 **-4 Years Since Kyuubi-**

The Sandaime Hokage paid me a visit on my fourth birthday, just like he had on my three previous ones, only this time I was old enough to go outside with him when he invited me for lunch.

I was a little standoffish at first, something I couldn't help as I knew far more about him than anyone would likely be comfortable with me knowing, and that foreknowledge left me edgy. Eventually though, I couldn't help but relax around the man. Hiruzen's eyes were soft and kind and his voice was gentle and warm. I just couldn't help it as a smile made it to my face and I took an offered hand to walk alongside him.

I'm not sure at what point it started -though I'm sure reviewing my memories would tell me- but I fell into the habit of calling him 'Jiji'. Maybe it was the fact I knew he wouldn't stop me, or that he was one of the few people I could rely on, but it didn't matter in hindsight. The Sandaime accepted my name for him and gave me what was likely the best day I'd had since my birth and at least several months before my death.

It was over all too soon, but the experience was something I knew would stay with me until I died again and, just maybe, beyond that too.

-break-

It was only a few short days after the Hokage's visit that I found myself tossed out into the street. Interestingly, the caretakers hadn't been the ones to do it, rather it was the matron who seemed to own the place. My previous interactions with the woman had been limited but I could tell that she didn't like me, and the feeling had quickly become mutual.

She took what opportunities could be had when I messed up yell at and castigate me, assigning me extra chores for slightest mistakes when she was around to witness them.

So as she swore and yelled at me after tossing me out, I quickly scurried into the alleyway across the street and did my best to disappear before sitting down with a heavy sigh and taking stock of my situation.

I had the relatively good clothes on that I had worn during the Sandaime's visit, a few dozen ryo that had been a birthday gift, and three stale cookies that I had snuck out of the kitchen and had been caught with. Fortunately the matron hadn't seen fit to take them away when she tossed me out.

 _'First things first,'_ I laid out for myself mentally, _'Find shelter, find water, and then find food. I can steal the latter if I have to but I need to find somewhere to sleep first.'_

Getting up from where I sat down, I quickly took stock of my surroundings before venturing off to find somewhere I could use for shelter. As I made my decision, I could feel the mental presence of the Kyuubi over my shoulder so to speak as it observed the course I took and the actions I made. The fact it was constantly judging me was aggravating but it still picked up things that I missed sometimes.

* * *

 **-5 Years and 11 Months Since Kyuubi-**

"Thank you Teuchi-san!" I chirped happily, adjusting my position on a stool to better reach the counter.

Ichiraku Teuchi for his part chuckled and reached over, messing my hair with a hand before he set the bowl of Miso ramen in front of me.

"Itadakimasu!" I said happily, splitting apart my chop sticks before digging in to the alluring food. While I had merely been curious at first at the sight of the Ichiraku Ramen stand, the offer of a free bowl from Teuchi's daughter had been enough to draw me in to try it out.

And really I couldn't fault Naruto any more for eating it so much. Their ramen was to die for, honestly I couldn't remember the last time I had had such a tasty meal.

 _ **'THAT'S LIKELY BECAUSE YOU LIVED IN THE DAMN ORPHANAGE FOR FOUR YEARS AND THE HOSPITAL FOR A YEAR BEFORE THAT, GAKI.'**_ Kyuubi echoed in my head.

I couldn't stop a snort before I returned my attention to the food as I silently thought about how my relationship with the fox had changed.

For the first year and a half it had been just as much of a surly bastard as it had been depicted in the manga and anime. Eventually though, some measure of respect entered our partnership and it had only grown over years. It was a fragile and tiny amount of respect, but it was there and the fact that I had managed to earn it through hard work and sheer determination left me feeling just a little proud I reflected as I worked my way through a second bowl of heavenly ramen.

I had gone from monkey to chimp to now gaki, things were looking up I thought with a grin as I set the appropriate ryo on the counter to pay for my meal before hopping off my stool and cheerfully waving goodbye to Teuchi and Ayane who had come out from the back of the shop.

Grinning to myself, I disappeared into the back alleys and headed to the small, abandoned shop that I had made into a home. I had techniques to practice and I certainly didn't need Kyuubi yelling at me for being lazy again.

* * *

 **"I STILL BELIEVE THIS IDEA OF YOURS IS DOOMED TO FAILURE."** The Kyuubi rumbled from behind his bars.

"And why is that? You can't possibly know that this won't work," I shot back, glaring up at the fox, feeling my temper steadily build as we spoke.

 **"THE SHEER EFFORT AND INTELLIGENCE YOU WILL NEED TO EXPEND TO BREAK DOWN EVEN A SINGLE JUTSU IS SOMETHING THAT I DOUBT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF GAKI."**

"You wanna bet?"

Chuffing laughter echoed through the sewer as the Kyuubi asked, **"AND WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO OFFER ME? WE ALREADY HAVE OUR DEAL."**

"...How about one reasonable favor?" I offered.

 **"A FAVOR...THAT IS ACCEPTABLE."**

"Good," I cheered, standing from my seat on the sewer floor as I planted my left hand on my hip and pointed up at the Kyuubi with my right, "Then you can bet your favor that I'll succeed, Dattebane!"

"Oh for fuck's sake...did I really just do that?" I asked sadly, hanging my head and putting my hands over my face to hide my suddenly burning cheeks. Silence answered my question though before the Kyuubi broke out into peals of roaring laughter at my apparent verbal tic.

The damn thing had to be genetic, there is no other way I would say it.

Feeling my cheeks burn as I turned on the balls of my feet and walked away, I put my nose in the air and tried to marshal some dignity.

* * *

For those curious, I'm listing Noriko's current ability rankings based on the scale used in the data books. Her current capabilities are listed first with her current theoretical maximums in parenthesis. These maximums assume she that she was fully developed and trained like a clan child rather than a rejected orphan. She'll be quick to start catching up on those abilities soon, but for now, this is where she is in terms of strength.

Ninjutsu: 1.5( **5** )  
Taijutsu: 0.5( **2** )  
Genjutsu: 0.5( **3** )  
Intelligence: 4( **4** )  
Strength: 2( **2.5** )  
Speed: 2( **3** )  
Stamina: 3( **4** )  
Hand Seals: 0.5( **1.5** )  
Fūinjutsu: 1( **3** )

Total: 15( **28** )

* * *

Author's Note: So...the first chapter has been rewritten. The next chapter will still include the rape scene though it will be both more and less violent than in the original in some ways. I hope you guys liked it and that you'll let me know your opinions on it.

Reviews are love! Please tell me what you think about this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Sadly nothing in this story belongs to me except perhaps what original ideas there are, Naruto itself belongs to Kishimoto and not to me sadly. *cries*

 **Author's Note:** Alright, here's chapter two. The rape scene is still in it and composes the majority of this chapter, but I've put a **[~|~|~|~|~]** at the start and end of it so if you're too uncomfortable with it you can control+F for that and skip to the end of that scene. There will be important material in it, but nothing that won't be able to be picked on afterwards or inferred from what will be said by the Hokage and the ANBU along with a little exposition from the Kyuubi.

A rape scene will never be good, and I will never profess a proficiency in writing them, so please forgive me if the scene is rather clunky. It was something I did not enjoy writing, and thus had a much more difficult time writing, please forgive me for any issues you have with it in advance.

Also, to those who had an issue with that shouting/Capslock Kurama, don't worry, that was just him being an arrogant asshole, he's toning it down as time goes on, especially after the events in this chapter. He'll still have his shouting moments, but they'll be few and far between now that he's accepted that it isn't anything but annoying to Noriko.

* * *

 **-Exactly 6 Years Since Kyuubi-**

 **[MC First Person POV]**

Carefully noting my surroundings, I bolted from the alleyway I had been in, streaking quickly across the street and into the path between Konoha's buildings. I couldn't help the grim expression that was on my face as I came to a halt at the end of the alley and ducked behind a trashcan, doing my best to conceal my presence and hide from the drunken villagers that seemed to have already started celebrating.

It was my sixth birthday after all, and that meant it was the day of the Kyuubi festival.

I hadn't planned to go out today, that said, the smell of the festival food and a growling stomach were enough to force me out of hideaway and into the village proper.

Carefully, I stalked my way through the village, slipping from shadow to shadow as I avoided the revilers with a grimace of distaste. Occasionally I darted forward at stalls that were either unmanned or that were staffed with inattentive workers stealing away treats where I could get them. There was dango, fresh buns, and a wide variety of other tempting foods, many of which I had recognized but had never had the opportunity to try before.

When I reached the end of the stalls, my view replace by darkened streets instead of the crowded, colorful festival lanes, I gave a heavy sigh before turning around to return to my hideout, only to suddenly run into something that hadn't been there before as I was knocked on my ass.

Grimacing, I rubbed my sore rear and cursed under my breath as I looked up to see what I had hit. Only when I realized it wasn't a what I had hit but a who, I felt the color drain from the tanned skin of my face and a cold stone of fear settle in my gut as I looked up at the grinning face of a Konoha nin.

His face had a few scars which wasn't unusual and hardly enough to bother me under normal circumstances.

But as things were, the way the pale lines of flesh were twisted and distorted by the vicious grin on his face left me trying to scuttle back and away in fear. I yelped in pain abruptly as a large hand threaded itself into my thick, spiky locks before yanking upwards and lifting me from the ground.

I clutched at the ninja's had in desperation as I flailed my small feet to try and kick him to free myself when he started speaking, the words impacting and only spurring me to thrash harder in instinctive fear of what was going to happen.

"Well, look at what kami himself has given me. A chance to finally get rid of the demon, and on the day of the festival too!" There was a significant level of satisfaction and sadism in his tone that made my skin crawl as I flailed and cursed him back.

"Let me go you shit-eating mother fu-"

A sharp blow to the back of the head and all I knew was darkness.

* * *

 **[~|~|~|~|~]**

* * *

It was solidly night time when my eyes finally cracked open. The dull thudding in the back of my skull was putting years in my eyes as I winced at the loud sounds of laughter and talking from just a little ways off. Focusing my vision in the dark, I struggled to sit up even slightly, making out the silhouettes of several people nearby and what looked like several dozen sake bottles on the ground. That fact was just reinforced by the odor of alcohol in the air.

Sitting up, I made the mistake of bumping together a few bottles that had ended up near me, the ceramic jars almost unnaturally loud as they clinked together. It made my blood freeze as the sounds of the people near me immediately stopped and their gazes turned to all lock onto me.

"Looks like the little monster's finally awake," Someone drawled. There was the slur of inebriation in his voice which was distinctly different from the man that had caught me.

"Let's get started then. It was boring waiting for the little bitch to wake up."

"Woulda been faster if you hadn't brained her so hard."

"Fuck off, I wasn't gonna take chances with her getting away."

Chairs scraped across the bare floor as the people in the group stood and began approaching, their footsteps loud in the silence of the room as I whimpered in desperation.

"No. No. No.! Get away!" I began to say, softly at first though my voice was quickly gaining in volume until one of them decided to act as I got to my feet. The ninja lunged forwards and buried a fist in my gut, knocking the wind out of me and leaving my chest heaving as he slammed me to the ground.

I whimpered pathetically as I began to cry in fear, looking up at the grinning man above me in absolute terror as he pinned me to the floor and withdrew a kunai, the edge of the tool flashing in the dull light.

"Now before the others have their fun, I need to get my work out of the way," the chuunin whispered cruelly.

Redoubling my struggles, I tried to free myself before the ninja atop me dragged my left arm out, holding it on the ground with my palm facing up as he drew out a kunai, a sadistic grin on his face that froze my heart before the blade stabbed down.

I screamed.

The blade was driven down through my palm, fortunately between the hand bones before jamming into the floor, leaving my hand anchored in place as a pained sob broke from my throat. I tugged futilely at the weapon before giving up as it only increased the pain before screaming again as the ninja took advantage of my distraction to nail down my right hand as well.

"Toshi, make sure to keep her alive, we still need to have our turn," someone said in the background.

"Yeah, yeah…" the ninja above her groused before he shifted down my small body, spreading my legs wide as he yanked off my shoes, forcing me hold still before he drove another pair of kunai through my feet to anchor them to the floor, leaving me screaming in pain again.

I resumed her weak struggling, whimpering and crying as the ninja took a hold of my chin, another kunai in his hand as he began to to cut along my whisker marks, splitting open the skin along the dark marks, blood flowing freely from the wounds as I struggled in vain against the man's hold.

He continued till he finished cutting all six of the marks, tears running down my cheeks in return, before he was suddenly off of me. Stifling a cry, I opened my eyes to see a new person above me, his hands reaching down to grip at my clothes as I inhaled sharply and slammed my eyes shut again.

"Toshi you had your fun, now it's our turn."

I knew it. The thing I had feared the most since I had realized where and who I was, was about to happen.

The sound of tearing fabric accompanied my frenzied begging as my shirt was cut and torn open along the front before my pants were given the same treatment.

"What you wanna bet we're not the first to have a go at the little bitch?" Someone else called from the background.

"Not taking it," The man scoffed above her, "If anyone had any sense they would have done away with her that night. I bet others have at least tried to get rid of it."

The conversation stilled, the atmosphere chilled even more than it had before, the man above my adjusting himself as the sound of a zipper coming undone reached my ears. Instantly I recognized that there was no more chance of stopping this, yet I still redoubled my struggles, no longer caring as the kunai tore into my hands and feet.

I felt my panties get yanked aside as a new arm slammed into my gut, making me dry heave as my body was pinned down again before I suddenly felt something press against my entrance. Resuming my frantic struggles, I begged for them to stop, crying out for mercy before I finally shouted in pain as the man above me forced himself inside my body.

My tears were a steady river from my eyes now as I sobbed, aware of every action made until the man finished and was replaced by another. I cried and cried as a scorching heat seemed to build inside me. My vision was almost literally going red as I screamed and begged for mercy from my attackers.

It was as a third man moved into place and took position that something happened to change the situation. The burning sensation that filled my body had reached an almost unbearable where I was certain I would combust if nothing was done to change it when I felt it-

 **-snap-**

It was an almost audible noise that signaled the change. Instantly something shifted inside me and the burning sensation escalated to new heights as I screamed, in minding of the sudden rush of feeling in my body.

What I couldn't see, couldn't begin to understand in this situation was the sudden mass of swirling, bubbling red youki that had surrounded my body like a cloak, sharp dagger like nails forming at the end of each hand as my own physical appearance changed in response to this power.

What I did understand was that I was just so angry.

Justsoveryveryangry.

It burned in my veins and shouted me me to fight back, to turn the tables and return this malice upon my attackers.

And I did.

I screamed again, only this time in an absolute rage as I used the rest of my body as a brace against the floor, ripping my right hand up over the kunai that had nailed it to the ground. I left behind a chunk of flesh, but that wasn't important. No what was important was revenge. As my face twisted in a vicious snarl I swept my now freed hand up, aiming to take across my rapist's belly. To the credit of his abilities he saw the blow coming and attempted to back up, but it wasn't enough.

My youki coated claws slashed him across the belly -through his chunin vest, through the strong muscles of his stomach, through the soft organs beneath- disemboweling him in a single stroke. His blood poured across my form and stained what was left of my clothes a bright crimson as slippery, shredded entrails spilled across my still prone body with a sickening plop while the man screamed in horror and pain before he collapsed upon my feet.

It hadn't even taken a full second.

The rest of the group began to respond to my attack, drawing weapons or beginning to flash through the hand signs for a jutsu as I screamed again in fury and ripped my left hand free in the same manner as my right.

Reaching down, I gripped the kunai in my feet and ripped them free, shoving the dying nin's body the rest of the way off of me as I did so. With a snarl I stood and coiled my muscles for an attack, my face twisted in a livid snarl, baring my elongated canines for all to see before I gave a animalistic roar and leapt forward for the man preparing the jutsu.

With both kunai held in reverse grips, I prepared to bring them down on the ninja as he finished his seals and brought his hands to his lips, saying something I didn't care to catch before he breathed out.

I was completely engulfed in the searing fire, still roaring with rage and uncaring of the flames entering my throat and burning my lungs as I burst from the flames and landed on the ninja.

What a frightening sight I had to be going by the shocked and horrified faces of the people around me.

As I made contact with the fire breather, I sliced down with both kunai, digging through the Nan's chunin vest and into the soft flesh beneath as I alternated blades and slashed at his body in an effort to tear him into literal ribbons.

As he collapsed beneath me, I pushed off his body like it was a spring board and crashed into the next man, one hand grabbing his head and forcing it back as I let loose a bellow that shook the building around us as I leaned forward, my jaws wide and my teeth razor sharp.

And bit down on his neck.

He screamed in pain and it was like music to my ears as I shook my head from side to side like a shark, my sharp teeth slicing through skin and muscle and tendons as blood gushed into my mouth, filling it with a burning heat and swirling over my tongue. When my jaws met, the man collapsed with a gurgle as I leapt away from his body -taking most of his throat with me- as I spit out the chunk of flesh in my mouth with some minor note of both disgust at the flavor and horror and the act.

But I didn't care.

They hurt me.

They nailed me to the floor.

They raped me.

All for something I had no control over.

I'll kill them.

Growling, I prepared to leap forward again at the horrified men when the sharp, high pitched crackle of electricity filled my ears and I was suddenly screaming, in pain again this time, as someone attacked me from behind and at close range. It was too late for my rage filled mind to react or even identify my attacker when I collapsed and fell to the floor.

As darkness claimed me for a second time.

* * *

 **[~|~|~|~|~]**

* * *

 **[Inu Third Person POV]**

Sighing in relief that he had finally stopped her, Inu tore his gaze from the crumbled, burnt, and bloody form of Uzumaki Noriko to look at the rest of her attackers, only to be mildly surprised at the sight of Weasel resheathing his ANBU blade as the last man fell to the floor in a heap. He couldn't help but find it disturbing that the usually quiet and calm ANBU had cut down the remaining attackers.

They were supposed to capture criminals, not execute them on the spot. He grimaced as he looked at the identities of the attackers though as he thought, 'Though I don't think I can begrudge him this. This...this is just disgraceful.' If Weasel hadn't already finished them, he probably would have himself.

Carefully, Inu crouched and scooped up Noriko in his arms as gently as he could, still getting a pained whimper from the girl as he stood up fully and gave orders to his squad.

"Neko, Hebi. Clean up the scene and take care of the bodies. I am taking Uzumaki-san to the hospital. Weasel, go and alert the Hokage that Noriko has been attacked and I am taking her to the hospital," he informed them softly, pain nearly choking his voice but failing against the steel in his tone.

With a nod, Weasel disappeared in a swirl of leaves before he did the same an instant later.

* * *

 **[Kurama Third Person POV]**

 _ **'Unacceptable.'**_

Staring down at the unconscious body in the sewer water before him, Kurama couldn't stop the furious rumble of a growl that echoed through the spacious sewer.

He had sworn an oath to help the little human but it had not been enough in the end. Only once the damage had already been done had the infernal seal opened to let his youki flood the little girl's body and give her the strength to survive.

That was completely unacceptable.

Had those foolish monkeys felt like it they could have killed his vessel and him along with her. That was a risk he could no longer afford. With the true colors of the village exposed and the depths of their depravity on display, he knew that he could no longer afford half measures.

Being human wouldn't be enough to see the girl before him survive through the threats that lay ahead.

He had a chance, though he needed to act now. When the seal had opened it gave him an opportunity to influence her body to a greater degree than was usual. and while that opportunity was almost gone, it was still there.

 **"The things I do for this kit..."** He grumbled to himself as he reached through the bars of his cell, carefully scooping up the unconscious body on the other side before pulling her back through into the darkness of his side.

There was no reaction from the seal as he pulled her in and began his work. Though he was loathe to admit it, he had grown...attached to the reincarnated little girl that was his jailer. She wasn't the insufferably happy idiot that was depicted in her memories, rather she was a relatively cool, logical, and developed woman who took apart her problems, looked at what the issues were, and then did what was necessary to resolve them. She willingly came to him and made the offer to release him, knowing full well what it meant for the world so long as he would help her survive the coming future. She acknowledged her weakness and cut a deal with him for strength, strength that she knew she would need but couldn't manage on her own.

He respected that.

She knew fully what he was and what he wanted, and yet to survive she had accepted it and sworn her oath.

He respected that.

But that strength hadn't been enough. He had made the improvements she had requested and while they would have been enough to turn any genin into a jounin, it hadn't meant a thing for a little girl terrified beyond reason. So it was now time for his own improvements.

He knew where her ideas could be improved having rummaged through her mind often enough for inspiration which he would need. Far above that though, he had seen her greatest fear; dying. Little Noriko feared dying and being irrelevant above all else, and it was clear why. She had accomplished much in her past life but all of it had meant nothing as she wasted away from an unbeatable disease.

He snorted.

As if he would let her be irrelevant this time. With what youki still flowed through her body, Kurama made his choice, redirecting the energy away from unimportant wounds that wouldn't impact her future and turned it inwards to begin changing her chakra coils. It was a small change, but now her body would begin producing youki of its own with which he could complete the rest of his work without worrying about the interference of the damn Yondaime's seal.

It would have to be enough for now.

Looking down at the little girl he held in his paw, Kurama sighed and did his best to uphold their oath -at least that's how he chose to view it- as he tucked her away against his bristling orange fur.

* * *

 **[MC First Person POV]**

My return to the waking world was slow and muddled. My head felt thick as I struggled to process the barest flickers of sensation that was being reported to my brain. There were lines down my body that felt hot and were accompanied by a mild stinging sensation, there were other areas that had deep, sharp pains pushing through them, mainly in my hands and feet. There was an aching fullness to my chest that made it hard to breath and extended all the way up into my throat till it reached my mouth which felt like cotton.

As I grew more aware, the pains became clearer but also more distant as I mentally categorized, acknowledged, and then ignored each of them till I was satisfied that I knew my current state. It was a task and half forcing my eyes open, but eventually they complied, the crust at the corners cracking as I forced them open for what felt like the first time in days, only to slam them shut as nauseatingly bright lights glared above me.

A tiny, raspy groan slipped from my throat as I reopened my eyes, only a bit less this time and tried to sit up, only to spasm and hiss in pain as my body protested the movement.

"Please stay still, you're in no condition to move right now," a voice said from my right.

I turned my eyes to catch a figure in full hospital scrubs beside me taking notes on a clipboard before I followed his movements as he left the room, which brought me to my next observation, namely the two people in armor by the door.

I took in their appearances, the black clothing, the high grade weapons, the body armor, and -most importantly- the masks before assigning the both of them to ANBU in my head as I took note of more features. One was fairly tall, the other a bit short, but their hair was familiar. The shorter had a wild mop of black hair that I instantly recognized as Uchiha Itachi. The other bore gravity defying silver hair that stood straight up, obviously Kakashi.

Both of their heads had twitched briefly to look my way as I watched them before they returned to their apparent guard duty. Such a move proved to be the correct decision as bare seconds later the door opened rather abruptly -almost slamming against its hinges- to permit the entrance of a much older man in a white robe with a red and white triangular hat perched on his head.

His movements slowed as he approached, his sad, tired eyes locking with mine briefly before he took a seat in a chair to my right and reached out, giving my thumb a soft squeeze.

"Noriko-chan..." He almost whispered, trailing off as if unsure of what to say.

"Ji-" I began only to stop and frown before clearing my throat to try again. "Jiji," I managed softly, still frowning as I listened to myself speak. My voice was rough, too rough to merely have some leftover drainage in it and it was fractionally lower in pitch, not too obvious given my age, but I noticed it.

"How?" I asked softly, trying to pick the correct question. How did I get here? How long had I been here? How are you? There were too many choices and I choked out after the first word, watching as the Hokage's face tightened in pain.

"You've been in the hospital for three days so far Noriko-chan," Hiruzen replied quietly, "Inu brought you here almost immediately after he found that you'd been attacked."

Attacked? Since when had I been atta-

The memories came to me abruptly as I tried to recall what he was talking about. The pain, the humiliation, that overwhelming anger. It all crashed over me in an instant.

Tears formed in my eyes and trickled down my cheeks as I clenched them shut, my mind replying the attack in perfect detail for me. The spatter of blood and organs across me, the burning pain of inhaling fire, the taste of hot blood gushing in my mouth, the absolute degradation of being raped.

It all washed across me as I went pale and green, rolling over as I felt what little that had been in my stomach rise back up in solidarity with the vile I know tasted in my mouth. I choked back a sob as I forced my body to roll over as I started to heave my guts out, the Hokage's hand suddenly resting and rubbing across my shoulders as I puked up what had been in my stomach to spatter on the floor.

This proceeded for several minutes till there was nothing left to vomit and the heaving had become too painful on my muscles and and I flopped back onto my back, the salty taste of my tears on my lips.

I could see the pain, sadness, and regret etched in every line of the Hokage's face as I locked eyes with me, clearly holding back the tears he wished to shed, if only just.

"H-How bad is it...the damage?" I finally asked after a few minutes of quiet.

"Better then it could have been but worse than I'd hoped," he answered softly, "The burns were extensive and severe at first but they are mostly healed now and provided the appropriate treatments, you won't have a scar from them. Your hands and feet have been completely healed though there's minor irritation in the flesh as a leftover from the wounds. Your lungs have been fully healed though they won't be back to full performance for a weak. Your throat is healed but there was unfortunately some permanent damage. You still have a half dozen fractured bones in your chest, and your voice, as you noticed, is going to be lower and rougher from now on. The doctors aren't sure why your other wounds healed so well but your vocal chords didn't."

Clenching my eyes closed, I struggled to even out my breathing which had become slightly erratic as I had listened before I sighed softly and let out a deep breath.

"Is there anything else on your mind, Noriko-chan?" He asked.

I hesitated before nodding as I whispered out my question asking, "Why'd they hurt me Jiji? Why did they call me all those things?" It was all I could do not to rant at the Hokage as I asked those questions. Truly I already knew the answers, but this was a test of sorts for him and I couldn't deny the curiosity that was humming in my head in anticipation.

Indecision cross Hiruzen's face for several seconds as I watched and waited for his reply before he sighed and hung his head in what I took as defeat.

"Before I answer you, Noriko-chan, you must know that what I am about to tell you cannot be repeated to anyone without my permission, do you understand?"

I nodded briefly, the movement slow and a bit painful.

"Good, now pay careful attention. The night you were born Noriko, a demon attacked our village, the bijuu known as the 'Kyuubi no Youko'. The demon destroyed large sections of Konoha and killed hundreds of people before it was defeated by the Yondaime. The problem with such a beast as the Kyuubi though is that it cannot be killed, only sealed away, and only in a human being. The seal the Yondaime used required his own life in return as it summoned the Shinigami himself to seal it away into its vessel, which unfortunately could only be a newborn baby. As you were the only child born that night, you were the only one available into whom it could be sealed."

I kept my rapt attention on the Sandaime's face as he seemed to literally age before my eyes as he gathered his thoughts before continuing to speak.

"I made the knowledge that the Kyuubi had been sealed within you an S class secret, but somehow it got out. Those responsible were executed, but the cat was already out of the bag and the village knew. Many of the villagers seem to hold you as an unwelcome reminder of that night six years ago upon which they lost their loved ones. Others still view you as the one who cost them their beloved Yondaime. That is why this happened Noriko-chan. It was because the villagers cannot see beyond the ends of their own noses."

We lapsed into silence before I nodded and closed my eyes, counting to ten before letting out a tremendous sigh as I reopened my eyes and fixed the Hokage with a steady stare.

"I want to go to the academy Jiji," I said softly, "If so many of them hate me and want to hurt me, then I need to be able to defend myself."

There was a tiny flicker of life back in his eyes as he nodded once to me -likely glad that I had decided what to do with my life rather than sitting and wallowing in misery.

"I'll make the arrangements for you to join classes as soon as you're released from here Noriko-chan. In the mean time, I've arrange a new home for you. Protections have been put in place around it for your safety. When you're released, Either Inu, Weasel, Hebi, or Neko will take you to your new home and help you get settled in before you report to class, sound good?"

"Yes, thank you Jiji," I replied with a nod, my mind already going off in different directions with the fact that the Hokage had willingly admitted the reason behind what had happened..

Looks like I needed to speak to Kurama to know what was going on with my body.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** And there's chapter two, rape scene included. I'll admit to taking a good chunk of it from the previous version as rewriting a scene like that is just very unpleasant and unsettling in my opinion. I hope it wasn't too much for you guys who are reading this now, and if it was I deeply apologize. For all that I'm using rape as a way to manipulate the plot and expose more of Noriko's character, it doesn't change the fact that it is in my opinion one of, if not the worst crime a human being can perform. Murder is an attack against the body, but I view rape as attack against someone on a much more fundamental level, an attack against a person's soul if you will. I used it as plot yes, but please don't make jokes about the scene, and be serious when discussing it. For all that it's fictional, it's still a serious issue and should be dealt with as such.

Please review and leave me with your opinions on my writing, the next chapter will have more character building for Noriko as well as explanation as to what Kurama is doing. To top it all off, Noriko will be starting at the academy, a few months behind the other students, but still there. The reason she wasn't already in the academy was because she had not been pushing Hiruzen to let her be a ninja and that this was their first meeting in two years after she disappeared onto the streets.

FYI, things will be a bit slower between this chapter and the next update, don't have as much written of it as I would like to.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Alright people, here's Noriko's first day in class, not much is actually going to happen there except the first tie between her and Hinata who will eventually become one of her closest friends. For the most part, all the kids are too wary or unsure to approach her as most of the clique leaders -so too speak- aren't looking to socialize with her until they have a better idea about her after all that they've heard from their parents. The clan heirs are a bit less wary, but more curious.

A little preface though in regards to Noriko's behavior with Kurama in this chapter as well before we get fully underway. While it will quite likely seems that the peace between them has grown far too quickly, remember, it's been six years since she struck her deal with him. As her primary aid in accomplishing anything and her best sounding board for testing ideas, Noriko has been forced to work and talk with Kurama to a large degree, especially during her first several years in the orphanage where she had next to no other humans to interact with.

She's shown her commitment to their deal over the years, and Kurama respects that. While she hasn't performed any epic battles like Naruto had, Noriko has still endured six years of hate and loathing at the hands of Konoha with the full understanding that she doesn't deserve it. The fact that she's kept going, even after being raped, is something that Kurama respects, even if it's grudgingly.

Lastly, in regards to Noriko's appearance, I wanted her to be a bit more unique in regards to looks compared to the usual that shows up when an author gives Naruto/Naruko a different appearance, hence the purple eyes and spiky red hair along with the slightly darker skin. The changes I've given her and will be giving her will become more and more pronounced as she matures until the most important bits have settled around the time she hits about fifteen or sixteen, they'll be most apparent when the descriptions of pre and post time skip get compared.

Now that that's out of the way, I hope you all enjoy the chapter, please leave any comments you might have in a review, I really appreciate the criticism.

* * *

 **[MC First Person POV]**

My discharge from the hospital came several hours later in the day. Thanks to the fact that I was now awake, it seemed like my regeneration kicked it up a notch or two and finished off the last of my injuries. There wouldn't be any outwards marks left from the incident other than the change to my voice, but that wasn't a scar that people could stare at in morbid curiosity for which I would be eternally grateful.

It was an hour after seven when Neko showed up with a small bag of new clothes which she proffered to me to wear for the rest of the evening.

It wasn't a jumpsuit, thank kami, but a set of gray shorts and a black t-shirt with the Konoha lead on it on red on the back. Satisfied, I dressed myself in the fresh clothes -savoring the feel of new, clean clothing for the first time in years- before took Neko's hand as I asked, "Neko-san, could we get some ramen please?

The ANBU seemed about to turn me down before my stomach gave a surprisingly loud rumble that left me blushing a bit before Yugao nodded slowly.

"Awesome, Ichiraku's then! Let's go!" I replied cheerfully. It was forced true, but not entirely, and I was certainly happy to be going to see Teuchi and Ayame -two of the only people in the village not to hate me, and as Naruto would likely say, my first two previous people. I loved the both of them like family, it was impossible not to for the kindness they showed me when I was on the streets. For how they would give me a free bowl or two when I needed it, and just talk with me when I was around.

It was wonderful in a way few things could compare to.

Those thoughts drifted away as Neko executed a shushin and took me from the hospital to stop just outside Ichiraku's stand.

Grinning as I was handed a small fold of money, I gave a nod to my ANBU watcher and headed up to the shop, before climbing onto a stool as I noticed Neko disappear into the shadows as I called out, "Ne Teuchi-oji-san, could I get a Miso ramen please?"

"Noriko-chan! Good to see you, Ayane-chan and I were worried when you didn't show up on your birthday," the aged ramen chef replied as he brought out a bowl of ramen.

I hid my wince at that reminder of what had happened and kept a grin on my face as I replied, "Sorry about that, I got caught up in some stuff. The good news is I'm now going to the academy, so I'm gonna be a ninja!"

The old man laughed and I could hear Ayame chuckling back in the kitchen as I rubbed the back of my head in faux embarrassment.

"Still it's good to hear that you're doing well, Noriko-chan," Ayame said as she brought out a second bowl to replace my now finished meal, leaning over to ruffle my hair briefly before heading back to tend the cooking.

"Thank you Ayame-neechan!" I called in return, grinning as I got back to work eating. After four subsequent bowls, I gave a burp that made me blush a bit in embarrassment before I moved to pay for my food, only for Teuchi to wave it off.

"You couldn't make it on your birthday, Noriko-chan, so this meal is on the house," he said warmly.

I almost frowned at being denied the ability to pay for the food I had eaten, but I managed to keep a smile in my face as I took the gift for what it was and enthusiastically nodded my thanks before hopping from my stool and heading back outside where Neko materialized from the shadows to offer me her hand.

It was a simple gesture, and even if it was made for the sake of doing her job, the mere physical contact made me just feel better as we vanished with a shushin to then appear outside my apartment.

Nodding my thanks as she handed me a key to my new home, I took out the money I had been given for ramen and offered it back to her as I softly said thank you.

It was to my surprise that she simply shook her head and gestured for me to keep it. I did grimace this time and I sighed as well before nodding and heading into my apartment, taking care to lock the door behind me. So I could hopefully have some peace. I briefly looked over the main room, which was the same as it had been for Naruto, only cleaner, before heading straight to the bathroom to do my business before I went to the bedroom, crawled beneath my covers, and promptly passed out, my mind still whirling despite my physical tiredness.

I needed answers, and that meant speaking to the Kyuubi.

* * *

Opening my eyes slowly with an effort to keep my breathing even, I walked deeper into the sewer, the cold, murky water splashing around my feet with each step. The dank hall was always a bit unwelcoming, but this time it was even more so. The pipes along the sealing were leaking far more often than before as I grimaced before rounding a corner to see the gate ahead of me. I kept up my approach until I was a few yards from the gate as I looked up to where I knew the Kyuubi would be when he revealed himself.

"Kyuubi, I need to ask you some questions," I called out, my lips twisted as my now husky voice echoed through the air. Apparently I wasn't even safe from the changes in my mind. Further thoughts were waylaid as the fox's eyes opened to look down at me from where I had known they'd be.

 **"You've come with questions. Ask them and I shall answer as best as I can,"** the Kyuubi replied.

"Thank you," I replied softly, "My first question is about my voice. I wasn't aware that a wound could leave permanent damage to my body with the regeneration favor I have as well as your youki."

The fox was quiet -and dare I say almost nervous- as it shuffled slightly before replying.

 **"Normally that would be true. However at this point in time the seal has not opened enough for there to be a constant flow of my youki in your body to perform such healing,"** it began, **"During the attack, the seal opened slightly in response to the life or death situation, allowing me to flood your body with youki. The amount I could provide was limited unfortunately, and thus I was faced with a choice."**

I grimaced, a sinking feeling my gut at the idea that the Kyuubi had changed something without my knowledge or consent.

 **"My choice was whether to completely heal the damage from this attack or to improve your body to ensure that should something like this happen again, you would be capable of reacting in time. If your mind will freeze in fear, then I must strengthen your instincts. To do so, I directed the last of my youki which was in your system away from the minor wounds in your body and instead used it to modify your chakra coils. Though the change is small right now, a portion of your coils now produce your own youki which will slowly convert the rest of your system to do the same. From that point the youki will begin changing your body and eventually you will become a hanyou."**

Instantly my eyes widened in surprise and my stomach told me it was dropping out through my shoes as mild horror filled me.

"C-Could you repeat that last part please?" I asked hesitantly, desperate for confirmation or denial of what I had heard.

 **"I said that you will become a hanyou, gaki. A kitsune hanyou specifically."**

"I thought so..." I muttered to myself, looking away from the fox's eyes and towards the bottom of the gate as I ran my hands through my hair and gripped it hard, pulling hard at my scalp as I practically screamed my reply.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

There was an instant of stunned silence on my part before the Kyuubi growled as I began to rant it.

 **"Seriously?! Where on God's green earth did you get the idea that turning me into a fucking furry would be alright?!"** I demanded, stomping angrily on the floor.

The Kyuubi bared its fangs at me and growled a reply as it said, **"Be quiet brat. You were on the verge of dying, and there is a significant chance that something this could happen again. You made a deal with me for my help and I will uphold it, even if you do not approve of the method."**

"You're making me into a monster, you fuzzy fucking asshole! I happen to like being human!" I snarled back, my own lips pulled back in a snarl from my fury with the Kyuubi.

 **"I AM MAKING YOU INTO MY HEIR!"** The Kyuubi roared back, cutting off any reply I might have continued to give, it's base, rumbling growl shaking the sewer, "I am giving you the greatest honor that I possibly can, you ungrateful child, do not spit upon my kindness!"

My eyes had widened to an almost painful degree at the fox's reply before I clenched them shut hard, attempting to focus myself and marshal my temper into a manageable state.

"Whatever," I finally grumbled, "We'll discuss this later. I need to go get ready for class."

* * *

Cracking my eyes open, I looked up at the somewhat dingy ceiling of my apartment for several moments before sighing heavily.

 _'Seriously...what the fuck was that fox thinking deciding all on its own to make me into a hanyou...'_

 _ **'I was thinking that I wouldn't tolerate you dying and taking me with you,'**_ the unwelcome voice replied, only making me grit my teeth in frustration.

 _'Just...just shut up for now Kyuubi, I need to think on my own,'_ I replied, exasperation coloring my tone as I untangled myself from my sheets and headed to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

As I shuffled into the room I stripped down before I climbed into the shower and got what was my first real shower in years, something that was absolutely delightful in my opinion. Had I had the chance I probably would have stayed there all day, but the sunlight beginning to stream in from the window up on the wall told me I had been there long enough.

Once I was rinsed clean, I climbed out, tugging a fluffy orange towel from atop the toilet before drying my hair and wrapping the towel around my chest, not that I had anything to hide with it though. At the sink, I brushed my teeth and looked up into the mirror for several minutes, drinking in what was my first real opportunity to see what I actually looked like.

Sure there had been puddles and store windows, but neither in the orphanage nor on the streets had I ever gotten the chance to actually look at myself in a proper mirror. I had known my hair was red. I had known it was spiky. I had known that my eyes were purple. I had known I had three whisker marks on each cheek.

I had been aware of all of this, But I hadn't ever had the chance to see myself clearly in a mirror and have the time to just drink it all in and I did so now, looking at how I was different from Naruto and similar to my parents in this life.

My hair was still spiky like my father's only instead of the yellow of Naruto's and Minato's -or even a flat fire engine red like Kushina's- my hair was a hundred different shades of red. There were bright, vivid strands that I would almost have called orange to the deep, solid crimson the color of fresh blood and every shade in between. Turning my head side to side, I watched as the spikes of my hair swayed and shimmered like a fire, absentmindedly noting the need for a haircut if I could find someone who would do it without screwing me over.

My eyes were clear, deep, and bright like my father's but they were purple like my mother's, a lovely amethyst that shone with my excitement when I couldn't stop a grin from nearly splitting my face. My face's overall shape was almost exactly like the Yondaime, with the same jawline, cheekbones, nose, and eyes. Turning my head I frowned a bit as I noted the whisker marks in detail before I raised a hand to gently trace the dark lines. I shivered slightly as I ran my fingers from the smooth skin of my cheek to the marks, noting the change of texture that I encountered. There was what felt like a supremely fine layer of fuzz along each of the marks that actually felt quite nice beneath my fingers. Examining my whisker marks also brought one more detail up, one that I had seen so often I over looked it initially; my skin color itself. While Naruto himself had been tanned more than most people, my own skin was a few shades darker than his was. That was one change I just couldn't explain so I gave up on thinking too much about it with a shrug.

Sighing one last time as I ended my examination, I straightened and finished the last bit of drying before I stepped back into my bedroom and got dressed for the day, pulling on an orange t-shirt with a red Uzumaki swirl on the back and plain black shorts that had been provided for me before went to the kitchen where I made and ate a quick breakfast before snagging a pair of snack bars and a bento that Weasel had left for me sometime during the night -that I suspected might be Mikoto's handiwork- as I headed out the door to where Neko was waiting with an impassive mask.

"I'm ready to go," I chirped with false cheer, giving the ANBU I knew to be Uzuki Yugao a grin.

The woman nodded mutely in reply before taking my hand as we vanished in a shushin.

* * *

Taking a trio of calming breaths, I looked up at my mute protector who nodded to me, somehow managing to convey what felt like an encouraging smile from behind her mask.

I grinned back as my nerves settled before I listened as the teacher began to introduce me, looks like I had six years of playing the fool ahead of me if I wanted to keep things as close to canon as I could.

"Alright everyone, please welcome Uzumaki Noriko to the class," the teacher said, prompting me to step through the doorway and approach the desk at the front of the room before turning to face the expectant eyes of the class I would be joining.

By kami I had done this in my last life and yet it was still absolutely nerve wracking!

"My name is Uzumaki Noriko!" I began cheerfully, uncaring of the surprise my husky voice caused in the students, "I like ramen, reading, drawing, and having fun. I don't like bullies, stupid people, and waiting for food to cook!"

There were more than few looks of curiosity and surprise among the other students and several of them were more than a little wary, no doubt that they had been warned about me by their parents.

"Alright Uzumaki-san, take a seat at the back desk with Hinata-san," my teacher said. Smiling I made my way to the back as directed and slipped a seat beside the shy Hyuuga heiress and gave her a warm, genuine smile as I offered my hand to her saying, "It's nice to meet you Hinata-san, I hope we can get along well together."

"A-Ah, i-it's ni-nice to m-meet you, U-Uzumaki-san," the shy girl stuttered, inwardly making me cringe though I kept up my grin as she hesitantly shook my hand before turning my attention back to the teacher and almost frowned.

For all that he had kept it from his voice while directing me about, he couldn't keep the disgust and suspicion from his eyes which made me sigh internally. Great, just great.

I needed to play the idiot still and I had somehow forgotten that nearly every single adult in the village despised my existence. Well, it was time to see how things progressed.

* * *

Good news, it turns out that the ninja world is absolutely fascinating.

Bad news, being taught about it at the level of six year olds is absolutely mind numbingly boring!

For fuck's sake, couldn't the teacher make some effort to keep the class interested? I was well aware that my mental age of thirty-one was no doubt part of why it was so hard to take this seriously, but by all that is good on God's green earth, Kyo-sensei could seriously make an effort to not be so dry as he taught.

It was like listening to a dissertation paper being read aloud back in college for all the emotion the man showed as he lectured. Already I could tell I wasn't the only one suffering, Kiba had fallen asleep in his seat, Shikamaru was napping with his head down, and I was fairly sure that Shino might have fallen asleep behind those sunglasses and the massive jacket he wore! Even Hinata who was diligently taking notes seemed to be struggling if her sagging posture was anything to go by.

It was just torture as I kept up my cheerful facade, making notes when I learned something new but otherwise doodling in my notebook as I paid a tiny amount of attention to our teacher.

 **-RRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG-**

Oh thank The Lord!

I wanted to cry with relief when the lunch bell echoed through the building, only instead I settled for a sigh of relief as I stood and stretched before grabbing my bento and turning to look at Hinata who was cautiously putting her stuff away before pulling out her own bento.

"Ne, Hinata-san, want to eat together outside?" I asked with a friendly grin as the timid girl literally squeaked in surprise before looking at me.

You know I think she forgot I was there.

"A-Ano...I-If you d-don't mind I-I w-would like t-that," she replied shyly, not meeting my eyes as my expression softened a bit.

"Alright, let's head outside then, there's a tree by the entrance that looked like a nice spot." I offered before leading the way outside after a jerky nod from Hinata.

The tree in question was the one with the swing hanging from a branch that Naruto had sat in so often while he watched parents pick up their children. It left an almost melancholy feeling in my heart for a moment or two, but I banished it as I sat down against the trunk of the tree and patted the ground beside me as I gestured for Hinata to sit.

Once she had, I let a peaceful silence settle over the both of us as we are our meals before I finally broke it as I spoke up asking, "Ne, Hinata-san, do you think you could tell me about yourself?"

A-Ah I d-don't t-think it would r-really b-be something you'd f-find interesting," the timid girl replied softly.

"Oh come on, Hinata-san, I bet you know and do all sorts of cool things. There's no way you could be boring," I encouraged with a wide, vibrant smile, actually enjoying my school day for the first time.

"I-If y-you're s-sure then..." She trailed off.

"I am. Tell me about yourself Hinata-san, and then I'll tell you about myself."

"O-Okay, well..." She began as she started to talk about herself.

I listened in rapt attention, barely noticing as I munched away at my bento as I listened to Hinata talk about herself. About life in the Hyuuga clan. About what she enjoyed doing and what she cared about.

It was...nice.

There truly was something to be said about the innocence of a child, and listening to one as innocent as Hinata was something else entirely. Though she was shy about giving them, her opinions were honest and surprisingly level headed for a child her age, unspoiled by preconceptions and bias. It was refreshing to listen and speak to her, after all this was my first chance to actually talk to someone in a real conversation other than Jiji or the Kyuubi in six years!

How could I not enjoy it?!

* * *

Returning back to my apartment was as simple as accepting Inu's -Kakashi's- hand at the end of the day to be brought back by shushin. It really was a fairly good way to travel I considered as I sat down tiredly at my kitchen table, resting my face in my hands as I sighed to myself.

 _'How the fuck did that little orange wearing brat manage to keep his mask up so easily?'_ I thought tiredly, only to jerk suddenly as I got a response.

 _ **'He likely grew into his mask Noriko,'**_ the Kyuubi replied, strangely solemn, **_'You're having to complete dawn it after a single day. Your mask is without a doubt far more exhausting.'_**

 _'Right...'_ I replied absently minded lay as I mulled over the events of the last few days of my life, shuddering internally as the perfectly preserved memories of my sixth birthday played through my mind before I let out a resigned sigh. I suppose I would have to eventually...

 _'Hey Kyuubi...'_ I called softly into my mind, receiving silence for a few seconds before getting back a curt a response.

 ** _'What is it?'_**

I bit my lower lip as I rubbed my temples and replied, _'I need to say that I'm sorry about this morning.'_

 ** _'...'_**

 _'I over reacted and didn't consider things from your side before I got angry with you.'_

 ** _'And you really think that's something you need to apologize for?'_** The fox asked incredulously before snorting in contempt, **_'An argument like that is hardly worth an apology. And even then I hardly expected you to appreciate my gift. This was a matter of survival, I really don't care if you liked it or not, brat.'_**

I sighed again before I replied.

 _'That doesn't make it right whether I liked it or not. You've given me something extraordinary, no matter how much I didn't want it. You made me your heir for fuck's sake! My rejection of what you did wasn't just me spitting on your help, it was a personal insult against you, rejecting probably the greatest gift you could give someone as a bijuu! My dislike of your actions doesn't make my behavior any better.'_

There was silence for several moments before the chuffing laughter of the fox practically rattled my brain as the Kyuubi snorted and replied, _**'You're worried about my feelings? I couldn't give a damn if you appreciated it or not, the simple fact is that I won't lose to that bastard Uchiha and I'll do whatever I have to in order to see that accomplished! Even if it means going against your will as I still complied with our agreement. I'm helping you, even if you don't get a choice in it.'**_

I couldn't stop the growl that made its way from my throat as I frowned, _'Well fuck you too you bastard fox! I'm trying to be civil! I'm trying to at least be grateful that you would make me your heir! Now could you pull your fuzzy orange head out of your fuzzy orange ass and accept it! Being arrogant won't help either of us here! We've sworn to cooperate so let's fucking cooperate! Neither of us like the situation, so let's get the fuck over it then and improve it! If being a decent human being and treating you and your actions with respect is necessary than so fucking be it!'_

Laughter roared in my head as I dropped my face from my hands and smacked my forehead against the table in return as I listened for some reply besides peels of laughter from the fucking fox.

 ** _'Six years. Six long years I've known you brat and for once I think you might have given me your honest opinion rather than a reasoned solution.'_** The Kyuubi replied humorously, 'Perhaps there's hope for you yet. You always look at things and search for an advantage you can seize, acting according to what will help you the best rather than what you want to do. It seems that putting on Naruto's mask might have made you finally your own one.'

I felt my cheeks burn slightly as that certainly was not a compliment. Still I grimaced as I put all my effort into seeming bored as I asked, _'Can we get back on topic now?'_

 _ **'Of course, of course, gaki...'**_

 _'Would you stop patronizing me?'_

 ** _'Why? Antagonizing you is by far the most entertains thing I have to do behind this accursed seal,'_** the Kyuubi hissed, a sudden venom filling its voice.

 _'BECAUSE IM TRYING TO APOLOGIZE DAMN IT! I'M TRYING TO SAY I'M SORRY FOR BASICALLY TELLING YOU THAT MAKING ME YOUR ONLY HEIR WASNT GOID ENOUGH FOR ME!'_ I mentally screamed at the fox, huffing for breath as my own mental state began to bleed over and affect my physical state with an increased heart rate and breathing as if I had actually shouted.

There was silence though for several moments until I had finally calmed my breathing and steadied my heart rate at which point the fox spoke up to ask the obvious.

 ** _'You feel better now?'_**

 _'...Yeah, I've needed to do that for a while now...'_

A derisive snort was the reply before it spoke again.

 _ **'Good, it was getting fucking annoying having to deal with your overly cautious attitude in here. I expect you to do things, even if it's asking me for help beyond what I give to uphold our oath. That means you need to think for yourself consider your options as more than just 'what will give me power.**_ _**Honestly you should learn from the blonde idiot, your personality behind the mask was becoming far too much like that brooding duck-ass.'**_

I couldn't help laughing at that for several moments before slipping back into chuckles and finally quiet snickers as I took the mental image of the Kyuubi calling Sasuke 'duck-ass, to his face and saved them in my memories. Once all was quiet for several minutes as I rested just a bit before I spoke again.

 _'Thank you Kyuubi...For making me your heir...and for putting up with me.'_

A small huff was the reply before the Kyuubi spoke again, this time with a calm, neutral, almost friendly tone.

 _ **"You're welcome kit...and it's Kurama, not Kyuubi. You already knew my name so just use it damn it.'**_

I couldn't stop a smile that pulled my lips up as I felt the tension in my body ease a little as I replied to him.

 _'Will do...Kurama-tou-san.'_

There was silence on the other end of the conversation. Beautiful, incredulous, dumb-struck silence as I broke out into snickers again before ending the conversation and getting up to get some dinner.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** And there's chapter three! I hope you all enjoyed it and I encourage you you ask any questions and leave any thoughts you have about the story in a review. I'll see you all soon enough with the next chapter, so...

Ja ne!


	4. Chapter 4

**IMPORTANT NOTICE AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER! IT'S A GOOD ONE I PROMISE!**

 **Author's Note:** And here we are at chapter four. I hope all of you have enjoyed the story so far and continue to in the future. This chapter we'll be seeing just how Noriko trains and just what she's been getting up to in her last two years on the streets. I'll also be answering reviews that I've gotten at the end of the chapter since you guys have started asking questions about plot points.

Now on with the show!

* * *

After a week of classes which let me settle into the routine of things, I decided it was time to resume my more usual training which meant I needed to get away from my ANBU guards.

Sneaking away from said ANBU guardians turned out to be far easier than I expected it to be. I had experience at hiding from patrols from my time on the streets, but I hadn't expected that evading a group that was actively watching out for me to be so simple.

Between a Kage Bushin while I was in the bathroom and having Kurama suppress my chakra -and my burgeoning youki- to the absolute maximum, I was able to let my Bushin head out to class with whomever was my watcher for the day. It did require that I part with fully half of my enormous chakra reverses in order to make sure that the lone Bushin would be durable enough to survive a day in dubious environment that was ninja school, but after that I was scot free.

It was rather disappointing in my opinion that ANBU didn't have someone watching my house while I was away, but given that only a certain four of them seemed to be assigned to rotate through watches I suppose that it was understandable. Still, once I was alone, I climbed from my window and scampered down the wall and then into the sewer system through a grate behind my apartment building. While I had yet to locate any secret rooms or hidden passages within the maze like system, I knew that they existed, purely by the flow of the chakra around me as I passed through the pipes. There were a number of odd dead spots in the sewers where you literally couldn't sense a shred of chakra, and while you would never notice them from outside their effects, once you went into one you knew it was there for certain.

Those spots weren't my goal for the day though, my goal for today was to reach the abandoned warehouse that had served as my home base for the last two years.

The building was in surprisingly good repair for the amount of time it had stood untended, having been abandoned when the clan that owned it died during the Kyuubi attack where upon their assets had been frozen to see if any relatives of the owners could be found. Of course if none were located the government would seize the assets, but the bureaucracy that plagued the village had seen to it that such a process would take a decade if not longer as various greedy individuals and groups sought to have the riches turned over to themselves.

Of course, with that process going on and the lack of real attention on the assets in question, no one had visited the building in four and a half years until I had taken shelter within it six months into my time on the streets. Still, the biggest aid in ensuring my sanctuary hadn't been discovered was Kurama -then Kyuubi to me- to my surprise. Apparently the fox hadn't been sealed within two of the greatest Fuinjutsu masters Konoha had ever seen without learning more than a little bit about seals. While he didn't know much of the theory behind them and how to create new ones, Kurama had still known the designs for several dozen seals including the two main designs that protected my home away from home.

The first was a chakra suppressing seal which I suspected was quite similar to those in the sewers, only more advanced. When placed on a building the seal served to isolate the chakra inside from that outside, making the room or building in question perfect for covert operations. The second seal was one of my mother's own creations, a barrier seal that brought to mind the world of Harry Potter. Once it was erected, the barrier in question effectively prevented people from noticing what was inside, making them overlook the location and pass it by. It wasn't fool proof by any means as anyone who was aware of what was hidden there or the location itself wouldn't even be effected, but between the 'Notice-Me-Not' seal and the chakra isolation seal I had a place that served to let me train and practice as I needed provided I didn't damage the building itself to any real significance which would break the surface of the barrier tender them moot.

So after climbing from the sewer -and quickly skittering into the warehouse- I cleared my lungs of the noxious fumes that had filled my overly sensitive nose and looked over the supplies I had squirreled away, most of which had come from Training Ground Forty-Four aka 'The Forest of Death'.

While the Chunin Exams were only held in Konoha every few years, enough ninja still trained within the forest to leave a considerable amount of crap laying around for whoever wanted to take it. As such I had medium sized crates filled with kunai and shuriken along with a large box of scrolls. More than a few of them had blood or chakra locking seals on them which meant I'd need to learn how to take apart the seals on question before finding out what was inside, but most of them had been nothing but supplies or garbled, codes messages. And while the supplies were useful, the messages were worthless to me. I was a scientist, not a ruddy code-breaker.

The best items I found though were the jutsu scrolls. There weren't many, less than a dozen, but what they provided were instructions that the wiki of my past life had lacked for performing various jutsus. This first hand knowledge was extremely useful as it provided me with the experience needed to do higher level jutsus by extrapolating the methodology behind lower lever ones. It was a long and tedious process, but it was necessary until I could legally enter the ninja section of the library to get jutsu scrolls instead of having to impersonate ninja that had checked in to the hospital sick.

I'll admit to possibly having helped a few of them along to get there.

Between my transformation technique and having Kurama suppress my chakra to the absolute limit, it had been easy to sneak into ninja's homes and mess with their food and other such amenities.

But I digress. Pulling my attention to the here and now, I put my fingers into the cross seal Naruto had created for the Kage Bushin and began turning out clones. I made them one by one for the sake of practice, working to get the jutsu down silently, seallessly, and smokelessly. It was a slow process but I was already silent and there was almost no smoke after a year and a half of practice. Now I just needed to deal with the seal and that little wisp of smoke that came with them.

While I did that for practice, my clones did their own thing, each ones created with a specific task in mind. A trio transformed into various ninja that a scout Bushin had informed me were currently laid up in the hospital sick room with various amusing and/or embarrassing sicknesses.

Seriously, leaving two of them with pink-eye, while nasty, was satisfying when I saw the grossed out looks on their colleagues faces.

Other Bushins, -the vast majority really, at least 60-70% of them- were tasked with practicing chakra control exercises. After a year and a half of this, along with all the meditation I had done when I was locked away in the orphanage, had seem my chakra control rise to high chunin or low jounin level. It was something to sigh about because I would need to keep up with it constantly for the next two decades if not longer according to Kurama. The process of becoming a hanyou meant that my chakra cool system was bring slowly converted over into a youki coil system, the problem with this being that youki was much more sense and powerful, and when combined with my ever growing reserves, this meant that my control would always be going down until I had matured into a fully adult kitsune hanyou which would be signified when I gained my ninth tail. Interestingly, each tail would also make my control worse as all nine of them would come with significant power boosts, each one bigger than the last. This promised that powerful and difficult jutsu would be a long time coming.

Still it wasn't hopeless like somethings were.

It seemed that despite kitsunes being natural pranksters and tricksters, my ability with genjutsu was absolutely zero. This had caused no end to griping from Kurama who had claimed it an embarrassment that his heir had no talent for illusions. I was a little hopeful that it might become a little easier as I gained my tails and became more of a fox, but it was a small, fragile hope.

So with the majority of my clones practicing control, I assigned two dozen of them to continue practice on the Rasengan which was proving more difficult that I expected despite my level of chakra control. Another two dozen were running through the katas to a few taijutsus I had copied from the library, a few more practicing throwing weapons, and lastly there were fifty of them practicing the martial arts I had learned in my past life two help relearn the muscle memory I would need to do them efficiently.

As for myself, I settled in to my usual exercise routine. Run until I can't run anymore, at which point Kurama would help heal my muscles, and then move onto the next exercise.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Of course the issue with this method was that I could do some of the exercises, like running, for so long that would leave me without time for any other exercises. To this end I was currently devoting what efforts I could in the library towards learning to make both gravity and resistance seals so that I could up my training again and continue getting stronger again. The best part about this method was that my new tou-san would ensure my body grew properly rather than become malformed from bad nutrition and over exercising my still developing body.

Any more thoughts were waylaid as Kurama chose that moment to speak up into my mind.

 _ **'You're making good progress kit. The level of physical work you've been doing has accelerated the conversion progress of your coils nicely.'**_

I furrowed my brow as I passed sit-up number two hundred and responded with a question of my own.

 _'How's that work Kurama-tou-san?'_ I had an idea but it would be nice to get a definitive answer.

 ** _'The constant exercise and chakra reinforcement you do has sped up the movement within your coils. As such your youki and spread faster and farther than it would be otherwise, causing more of your system to adjust to the presence of and then begin to produce youki. It'll be a bit hard on your system so you can expect soreness from your coils and mild burning through your entire body.'_**

 _'Why burning?'_

 _ **'Because youki is corrosive, even your own, and until your body adjusts to having it in place of chakra, it'll still attack you on a cellular level.'**_

I grimaced at that as I passed two hundred and fifty sit-ups before asking the obvious follow up question.

 _'And how long will thus take?'_ My mental voice a little annoyed but mostly resigned.

 ** _'A year at most, six months at best. You have so much chakra and such large coils already that it'll take time, but once it gets going the process will be fast. The conversion rate will grow exponentially the more of your coils that are converted.'_** He explained patiently, though there was still a note of condescension on his voice. It seemed that heir or not, Kurama was still supremely arrogant.

 _'I can deal with that, anything else?'_ I drawled with an eye roll at my observation.

 ** _'Yes.'_**

 _'Well?'_

 _ **'I don't know if I should tell you, I'm not sure I'm getting the proper respect anymore.'** _ He huffed.

 _'Oh for fuck's sake, Kurama I rolled my eyes, it's not like I spit on you.'_

 _ **'That doesn't sound very believable.'**_

 _'Jesus Christ on a Cracker, it's sarcasm you over-sized rug!'_

 ** _'Say it.'_**

 _'No.'_

 ** _'Say it.'_**

 _'Absolutely not.'_

 ** _'Say it.'_**

 _'I will not! Under no circumstances will I say it!'_ I replied, raising my mental voice at the Kyuubi.

 _ **'Say it! Or I won't tell you what I was going to say.'**_

 _'No.'_

 _ **'Come on, I know you want to hear about your tail and ears.'**_

 _'No I don't.'_

 _ **'Liar.'**_

 _'I don't give a damn about them Kurama.'_

 _ **'You don't then what was that dream you had last night? You certainly seemed to care about them during that. Especially when that boy-'**_

 _'SHUT UP!'_ I roared in my head, a furious blush on my cheeks as the dream in question rose to the forefront of my mind.

That had been an unforeseen consequence of having Kurama preserve my memories. Every thought, every sight, every dream was perfectly recorded in my mind. And while that was great for studying, it made dealing with Kurama more than a little difficult sometimes.

 _ **'You know I don't think I will. Maybe I'll read that story you wrote with your room mate in your sophomore year of college. You've been so against me looking at that memory I can't help but wonder why.'**_

Instantly my blood chilled and I stopped my exercises mid push-up, earning to curious expressions from my clones, which I ignored.

 _'BAKA! STUPID ERO-FOX! Stay the hell out of there.'_

 _ **'Then say it.'**_

 _'...Ugh.'_ I grimaced as I closed my eyes and asked myself for forgiveness.

 ** _'Say it.'_**

 _'Fine, I'll say it you ass, and then you'll tell me about my ears and tail.'_

 _ **'Agreed, and put some effort into it too.'**_ Kurama cackled, literally cackled, or at least as much as a mountain sized fox could.

I groaned loudly before sighing and beginning to say the dreaded phrase.

 _'I, Uzumaki-Namikaze Noriko, apologize for insulting my great Otou-sama, Kurama, the Kyuuni no Youko! Dattebane!'_

Instantly the damn fox roared with laughter while I hung my head in shame, desperately trying to fight down the embarrassed blush on my cheeks. As soon as Kurama had established my embarrassment and outright hate for my verbal tic, he had seemed to make it his goal to get me to repeat it as often as he could, usually by over reacting and forcing me to apologize as I had just done.

It was outrageously annoying, but it provided a simple, easy way to keep the peace between us. If I pissed him off, rather than letting it become an argument. He would instead begin immediately teasing me and threatening to delve into my more embarrassing memories which he had only taken a cursory look at his first time through my mind so many years ago.

I had learned very quickly to cave to such threats as whatever I would have gotten from such arguments usually paled in comparison to the indignity I would ensure as the fox brought up the memory in question, examined it in detail, and then proceeded to harass me about it, all while laughing.

 _ **'Good enough, kit. Now, for your ears and your first tail you should get them within about a year once your coils finish converting. The process has already started as your body adapts to having youki in it, but once your coils are completely converted your body will go much faster as there won't be chakra in your body to help fight off the changes.'**_

 _'...that sounds alright. I'll need to start practicing the transformation endurance practice so that I can maintain it in missions and such.'_

 ** _'Indeed, now get back to your exercises, you've been in the same position for ten minutes.'_**

Instantly I blushed a bit at my slip up before returning to my designated workout, determined to finish the day without anymore embarrassment.

* * *

The weeks leading up to the end of my first month at the Academy were some of the most frustrating in my life. While I was more often than not able to simply sneak off to practice on my own for the day and leave a Bushin to take my place, the memories I received at the end of every school day almost drove me up the walls.

For starters, I still had to maintain the happy-go-lucky idiot mask for the teachers and students there. The next issue was the teachers themselves, I had yet to run into a single one that did not look down on me with scorn. When you added that to the social stigma that many of the kids had learned from their parents and I suddenly found it very difficult to not throttle the little shits for their behavior.

The personalities that a few of them had were only icing on the metaphorical cake. Kiba, for example, grated against my nerves. While he wasn't particularly rude or mean, his rough and arrogant attitude was enough to leave me with a headache at the end of each day from second hand exposure.

Then there was Sasuke...oh Sasuke...

If anyone in that class actually got on my nerves it was him. Knowing what the brat would become, it was hard to hold back and not want to kill him, especially with his personality. While the boy was polite to a fault and even kind, the famed arrogance if the Uchiha was already showing and that just rubbed me the wrong way.

And then there were his eyes. For all the innocence that they held, coal black eyes like his haunted my dreams and showed up far too often in my nightmares for my liking.

Oh and then there was the fact that I had yet to pass a single written assignment despite knowing I had gotten them right. It was only the few practical sections to the work we had been doing that prevented the teachers from outright flunking me from the Academy.

It was these thoughts and many others that whirled around in my head as Weasel brought me to the entrance of the Hokage's office before nodding and moving off to wait by the door as I entered and padded my way up to Hiruzen's desk before taking the seat that had been prepared opposite him.

"Good afternoon Noriko-chan, I hope you don't mind that I called you here," the aged Hokage greeted.

I gave a rapid shake of my head before I grinned back at him and cheerfully replied, "Nah, it's fine Jiji, I was actually hoping we'd get to talk soon."

Hiruzen gave another warm smile before he asked the first question, "So what do you think about your classes so far Noriko-chan?"

"They're fun!" I chirped happily, "The history book is really great cause we get to read about awesome ninjas like the Shodaime and the Yondaime. Oh and you're in them too!" My voice was eager and excited as I explained how my classes were going with Sarutobi only asking a few questions to keep me going before he let out a satisfied chuckle and smiled at me proudly.

"That's good to hear, Noriko-chan is there anything else you would like you talk about? You mentioned that you wanted to talk to me at the start." He asked calmly.

I paused, looking to the ceiling with a thoughtful expression as I spoke to Kurama in my mind.

 _'You're sure you'll be alright with this, Tou-san? If this backfires we'll have to explain everything before were ready to.'_ I asked softly.

 _ **'I'm sure kit. You need those resources if you're going to get strong enough soon enough.'**_ He replied solemnly.

I grimaced a bit before looking at the Hokage who seemed to tense as he noted my apprehension. Not seeing a way around this, I gave a little sigh of resignation before I asked, "Jiji...could we...could we please talk in private without anyone else? It's something really private."

Despite the mild confusion I could see in his eyes, Hiruzen nodded and made a hand signal to the ANBU who quickly left the room as requested. Though I was reasonably certain that the room was clear, I held a finger to my lips for silence as I increased my chakra level -and only my chakra level- and let it flow out through the room like a fog, saturating every book and cranny.

The Hokage had visibly raised an eyebrow in surprise and concern before I sighed and nodded with relief.

"Good, we're alone."

"Care to explain what that was, Noriko-chan? The Hokage asked, looking at me intently.

Wincing slightly, I brought up a hand to rub the back of my head nervously before I replied, "I was making sure we were alone. By saturating the air with my chakra, I can feel if there are any 'holes' in it where a person's presence is preventing my chakra from entering."

"That's...rather impressive Noriko-chan but now that you've shown me that, why don't you tell me what you're really here for," said Hiruzen, his eyes becoming a little accusing.

"Ah...yeah...well I wanted talk privately because I know who my parents are." I replied.

With those words, I got to witness the 'God of Shinobi', the 'Professor', the Sandaime himself get absolutely floored.

"H-How did you find out?" He gaped.

Grimacing, I looked to my belly and gestures meaningfully at my stomach.

AgIn I got to see Hiruzen be completely floored by an unexpected situation. He was a mass of indecision for a few seconds before he sighed heavily and rested his face in his hands.

"You've spoken to the Kyuubi then, Noriko-chan?" He asked softly.

I nodded a little shakily at his tone before I answered.

"H-Hai, Jiji," I said letting my voice waver a little, "It was...It was on my birthday. After I passed out, I was in a big sewer and there was a gate that the fox was behind and that's when it talked to me."

The Hokage's face was grave and could have been made of stone for all the emotion he showed as he asked, "And what did the Kyuubi say, Noriko."

I noted the lack of suffix but chose to ignore as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. The most powerful in the village if not the nation was watching me carefully to make sure that he caught everything I said.

"I-It said that time was short, cause the seal was only going to be open for a little bit so I needed to pay attention. It said that I needed to get stronger because it wouldn't tolerate a weakling being its jailer and then it said I had to ask you for my inheritance, but that I couldn't get it officially. I didn't know I had an inheritance so the Kyuubi told me about the night I was born and said that the man with the spiral mask would come back but he wouldn't lose next time, so it was up to me to get stronger and defend myself."

There it was again, that absolutely shell shocked look on Hiruzen's face. It almost made me want to laugh, though the seriousness of the situation let me keep my mouth shut as ideas whirled through the Hokage's mind.

"Noriko-chan, what did the Kyuubi say about the man in the spiral mask?"

"Um...I'm not sure I should say it Jiji..." I trailed off unsure.

"And why is that?"

"It used a bunch of bad words...like it called him a ' _lazy-one-eyed-dickless-dumpster-fucker_ '...What is a dumpster-fucker anyways Jiji?"

 ** _'I did not say that. My insults are far more composed.'_** Kurama inserted with a rather affronted tone.

 _'I call bullshit.'_

The insult itself was one that Kurama had actually rattled off once upon a time when we had gone over the plot together and the innocent voice with which I had retold the insult seemed to have made the Hokage pause before he began to chuckle.

"Alright, have you spoken to the Kyuubi sense then, Noriko-chan?"

I shook my head enthusiastically before I replied, "I can't but it made me promise to come ask about my parents, Jiji."

"I see...well then I will get together the things your parents left for you, Noriko-chan. Since this won't be an official claim you won't be able to move into their home yet, but I know that they left scrolls behind for you. I'll bring them by later this week for you if that's alright." He said softly, the warmth returning to his eyes and making me smile as I hopped from my chair and made my way around the desk to throw me little arms around him in a hug.

"Thank you Jiji!" I cried happily, exaggerating the emotion just a bit to keep him from getting suspicious.

"You're welcome Noriko-chan. I do hope you understand though that you can't tell anyone about who your parents were. Otherwise you'd be in a lot of danger."

"I got it Jiji, I'll keep it secret!"

* * *

As I was escorted back to my apartment a little later, I couldn't help the little skip in my step as Weasel closed the door behind me while I waved back at him. Once the door was closed and I was certain that I wasn't under direct observation, including that kami-damned crystal ball, I sighed heavily and headed over to plop out on my couch.

 _'That went rather well, all things considered,'_ I mused.

 ** _'Reasonably so, however once Hiruzen gets over his incident he'll remember that trick you did at the start and get curious.'_**

I grimaced at that. _'Yeah but I've thought of an explanation for that, a little shaky though it may be. That shakiness may reinforce the fact that I'm just a little child though.'_

 ** _'...Perhaps. That issue out of the way, what are the next steps you're going to take?'_**

 _'Summoning. If I can secure enough time out from under the eyes of ANBU, I'll perform the summoning jutsu and let them pick me out. I'm not sure if I'll sign though, we'll absolutely need Senjutsu training so that means that we either get lucky on the group I'm best matched with or that we wait for Jiraya to show up and sign the Toad contract.'_

 ** _'Sound, but if were forced to wait on you're accursed Godfather than we'll lose an enormous amount of preparatory time.'_**

 _'That's the downside. The other worry I have is that I won't be able to properly enter nine-tails sage mode since I'll eventually no longer have chakra to balance out with it. As I understood it, it took Naruto's chakra, your chakra, and sage chakra to reach that state.'_

 ** _'It is a concern, but not a big one I think. Opposite that, have your clones made any progress on finding the shrine yet?'_** Kurama asked with genuine interest.

 _'No luck yet, however they've only manage to inspect about ten percent of the area around Konoha, and even if we don't find anything by mass clone searches then well just have to send some to Uzu to see if their are any hints left. Hopefully what my Kaa-san left for me will help. We'll need your other half and we can't leave that mask laying around for Orochimaru to use.'_

Kurama merely grunted, laying down heavily inside the cage within my mind, sending a sort-of shudder through my mindscape.

Looked like Tou-san was done for the day, and that meant so was I, at least until I fell asleep and could continue learning seals inside my mind.

* * *

 **IMPORTANT NOTICE:** As you likely noted at the end of the chapter, Noriko is going to perform the reverse method to find a summon clan to contract with. As such I've put a poll up on my Author page so you can go vote for what animal you think she should be summoned by and potentially contract with. That said, the group she is reversed summoned to may not be the group she contracts with as Noriko's own preferences may see her not wishing to be bound to a certain group, especially as she wants to get sage training. So for example if you all vote for her to get summoned to the snakes, she's more than likely to turn down that group and just wait for the a Toad contract with Jiraya.

 **Author's Note:** Well another chapter has come and gone and I hoped all of you my dear readers enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The next chapter will be along soon enough and will feature a number of important events in addition to likely being the last chapter before the massacre, so I hope you look forwards to it.

I'm fairly sure there will be complaints about how Noriko is handling the rape 'too well' but there are signs that she isn't right now. She's compartmentalized the pain and damage thanks to how all her memories are preserved and organized, but when she thinks about the incident or seems something that heavily reminds her of it, her associative memories kick in and bring everything to the forefront.

 **Q &A:**

 **Guest:** Yes she will be learning, and improving, the Hiraishin.

 **Zeronaru:** Of course Hiruzen would have had ANBU looking for her, the issue is that as stated in this chapter, she found it relatively easy to avoid them thanks to Kurama's help.

 **TheMysteriousOtaku:** Unfortunately, Kurama is going to be a father figure to Noriko, and maybe a bit of an annoying uncle too. In fact I'm not even sure if Noriko is going to have someone to go with. The reason for this is that the mental age gap between her and most everyone in the appropriate physical age group is twenty-five years. A really good example of this is the fic 'Déjà Vu no Jutsu' where the reincarnated soldier only ends up with Shikaku because he's pretty much the only one up to matching her mind. As such Shikamaru is one of the few that I might pair her with along with Gaara for whom she'd have a great deal of sympathy.

 **Ilat-2:** The reason Noriko is keeping up the mask is because she needs to ensure that the world follows canon for as long as possible, that means playing the fool so that she's ends up paired with Sakura and Sasuke with Kakashi for a teacher. Once the teams are set, Noriko will drop the mask and start kicking ass and taking names. The Chunin exams are where it'll get real interesting, especially depending on how you people vote in some polls I'll be putting up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Well to no one's surprise, foxes have one the poll, with dragons coming in as a bit of a distant second. I had already planned to give Noriko dragons no matter what, so this works out rather well for me. This chapter is going to be a bit longer than usual, because as I promised, the summoning, or at least the first one, will be happening in this chapter, the fox contract will be taken care of either next chapter or in a flashback at a later date. Aside from that though, there's a fair bit of angst and fluff in the first part of the chapter as Noriko adjusts her mental views of the world and her position in it. With her inheritance, Noriko is going to begin pushing boundaries and finding out just how far she can go within the confines of the village.

I feel pretty good about this chapter, but I still expect that some of the emotional crap is going to come across a bit clunky.

* * *

The instant the Hokage had entered my apartment I practically tackled him in a welcoming hug, throwing my arms around his legs as I greeted him a bit loudly.

"Jiji!"

He made an exaggerated noise of effort at my impact before chuckling as I felt a hand ruffle my fiery hair before I tilted my head back and looked up at him with a grin. I was genuinely happy to see him, and to see that he had held up his end of the issue going by the enormous scroll he had on his back was an excellent motivator for a good mood.

"Good morning, Noriko-chan. It's nice to see such a cheerful face in the morning," Hiruzen replied warmly as I released his legs and let him step further into my apartment, not failing to notice the four ANBU presences waiting outside.

"So what's with the big scroll Jiji?" I asked eagerly. Even though I had a good idea as to what it was, I was rather surprised by the sheer size of the damn thing. I had been expecting something like a dozen scrolls, not something on the scale of the Forbidden Scroll.

Chuckling as he made his way to my kitchen table, with me trailing by his side, the Hokage removed the scroll from his back and set it on the table with a solid thud before looking to me as he spoke. "This scroll Noriko-chan," he began, "contains everything not sealed inside your parents home that they left for you. You father and mother personally made this scroll along with all the others stored inside it. I'll admit to not knowing what all they left for you, as they were rather secretive about it, but I do know that you'll find your parents journals and some of their personal items within."

"I will suggest that you go through the items inside in order, starting from the first seal to the last as that was the intended design."

I nodded, carefully running my hands over the exterior of the scroll before I reached a complicated seal that held the scroll closed. Looking up to Hiruzen for approval -not that it would have stopped me if he didn't- I grinned as he nodded before bringing my thumb up to my sharp canine and splitting the skin before I drew my bloodied thumb across the seal, pushing a bit of chakra in alongside it. Instantly the seal and blood glowed bright blue before the blood vanished and the seal dimmed at which point a seam appeared along the surface of the scroll and it opened a bit, allowing me to grip it and slowly unroll it as I moved to stand in a chair to make up for my lack of height.

Carefully I stopped opening the scroll, which was surprisingly heavy and the paper rather thick even for a scroll of its size, and looked at the first storage seal which was simply labeled 'letters'. I couldn't stop a feeling of nervousness that was eating at me a little as I gently pushed my chakra into the seal through my bloody thumb and watched with a poof as a pair of small scrolls appeared in the center of the circle, each one bearing the name of one of my parents; Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato.

With far more care than the two scrolls likely needed, I picked them up and re-rolled the massive storage scroll before moving over to the worn couch in my living room to read them. I tucked my father's message into my pocket before wiping my still bleeding thumb across the seal of my mother's message before unrolling it and beginning to read, steadying the unexpectedly rapid beating of my heart.

 _"My dearest Noriko-chan,_

 _If you're reading this message than I am sorry to say that the worst has happened and I have died before I could raise you. If that is the case, than the first and most important thing you need to know is that I love you. I love you more than anything in this world and even life itself. While I hope that your father has been there for you when I am not, I know better than to make assumptions as whatever killed me likely would have taken us both. If such is the case and you are alone, I ask that you forgive us for not being there. We both love you with all our hearts and that will never change, no matter what._

 _Now, if you have this message than that means that either Minato or the Old Monkey have given you the inheritance scroll that we prepared for you, Nori-chan. That oversized scroll contains everything we could gather and prepare for you and was personally prepared by the both of us so that no matter what happened it and its contents would survive and be available for you. Don't worry about using it as a weapon if you have to defend it, and I have no doubt that you might. All the seals within are actually engraved on a thin sheet of steel beneath the paper to ensure that they'll last the tests of time and childhood._

 _But I'm rambling again, I do that sometimes and I'm sorry that I can't be there to ramble at you directly, I think that would have been rather entertaining. On to the interesting stuff though. Each seal within the scroll is blood and chakra locked to only react to you, anyone else will get a nasty surprise trying to get in and they won't be trying more than once, of that I can assure you. Now the next seal after the one this message was in will contain both mine and your father's journals which I hope will give you a look into out lives that you wouldn't get with just stories told from other people. After that the next two seals contain some outfits your father and I have gathered, more than a few of which are actually some of my old clothes from when I was a little hell-raiser. The next seal is weapons. There's a stock of standard kunai, fuuma, and shuriken inside it, but more importantly there's a supply of one hundred of your father's infamous Hiraishin kunai as well. While I don't know how well you'll take to the technique, I had him prepare a stock for you just in case. Inside there as well are between two or three swords. One is your grandfather's, my father's blade, Monohoshi Zao or the Laundry Drying Pole. It's a rather ridiculous name for a weapon, but make no mistake that it is a lethal weapon. The blade is a hundred and fifty centimeters so you won't likely be using it until you've grown up quite a bit. Included in Monohoshi's case are three scrolls detailing the techniques and the style to be used specifically with the blade. Should you master it, I have no doubt you will become a kenjutsu master._

 _That's okay though because that means that you'll be using at least one of my swords._

 _The blade that is for sure in this scroll is the clan head's blade, Benihime, or Crimson Princess. She's a beautiful weapon and will serve you well. As my heir, and thus the heir of the royal line if Uzumaki, it is a requirement that you become at least proficient with her if not master her, regardless of whether you use her or not. Benihime is reserved exclusively for when you are representing the clan as its head, so unfortunately you'll need a separate sword for casual mission use, which is something I may be able to help with. The last blade, which may or may not be in the scroll is my own personal sword. I never named it and as such you are welcome to do so at some point in your use of it. I assisted in the forging of the blade with my own chakra leaving it highly conductive to my chakra and likely yours as well. If my sword is not in the scroll, speak to Hiruzen as he is the one most likely to know its location._

 _The next seal contains every scrap of Fuinjutsu knowledge that Minato and I could put together. While it initially began as an attempt to catalogue the various seals we knew of, it eventually grew to become something that we planned to give you when you started learning fuinjutsu. The material begins at the easiest level in the front and the hardest material at the end. Pages edged in black denote forbidden and extremely dangerous seals that you should never even attempt without the aid of another fuinjutsu user and, preferably, master level skills for the both of you. Included within those pages are the necessary instructions for you to create your own version the Hiraishin. Still it should prove to be enough for you to learn fuinjutsu on your own if you must._

 _The next seal on the scroll contains all the jutsu that I could lay my hands and a few that were acquired by more dubious methods I'll admit. The jutsu are stored into five main scrolls color coded to match their respective elements. The sixth scroll in that group, the black one, contains the various kinjutsu that we have learned and feel that you could use. Knowing how things might work, I expect you to make full use of the Kage Bushin from the black scroll to help you succeed. The jutsu are stored by difficulty level just like the seals, so get to it as soon as you can._

 _The eighth seals contains one scroll which each contain the collective knowledge and history of Uzushio and the Uzumaki clan. This ornate red and gold scroll contains written records of Uzu that I took with me when I was sent to Konoha. The scroll is unfortunately not quite complete as there are about three years of time between when I received them and when Uzushio was destroyed in which they weren't updated._

 _The ninth, tenth, and eleventh seals contain things your father has prepared for you so I'll let either he himself or his letter tell you what's in them. The last seal is the one I need to stress the importance of, as it contains the true treasures of our clan._

 _This twelfth and final seal is special, and even more than any other its contents must be protected. Within the last seal of this scroll resides two things; the Summoning Contract that is bound to the position of Clan Head of the Uzumaki, and the memories of our people._

 _The large scroll is the Summoning Contract itself, and is unlabeled so even I do not know what animal it is for. Only one person may sign the contract at a time, and the last was my father who died shortly before Uzu fell. He never had an opportunity to use it before he died and my grandfather never had need to use it while he was the summoner, so among those still alive the identity of the summons is unknown to my knowledge. With signing that contract, which you do not have to do, there are a few things that you need to be aware of. One; as a clan summon and not a personal one, you should be fully able to sign on with another summon animal. Two; only those from the royal line may sign the contract, meaning me, you, and any of our direct decedents. Should someone try and sign without such a relation to us...I've been told the consequences were severe._

 _I can't tell you how the scroll in the black case will work as it is beyond me as much as I hate to say it. No matter what though, it is your choice whether or not to open and use that scroll. I never did, but you can if you wish to._

 _And that covers everything that I have left within the scroll for you Noriko-chan. I hope that you can learn about us and come to understand both Minato and I as you go through the contents of your inheritance. Above everything though, please remember that no matter what your father and I love you with all our hearts and souls._

 _With all of my love,_

 _Your Kaa-san, Uzumaki Kushina."_

As I read those last few words I felt a tight, clenching pain in my chest as my eyes seemed to burn before several drops fell onto the scroll beneath my mother's signature, making me stop as I slowly brought my hand up to touch my cheeks, looking on in surprise as my fingers came away wet.

"...I'm crying..." I whispered softly, honestly shocked at just how much my emotions had been undermined.

I didn't get it.

This was a woman that I had never known, never met, who had died mere hours after my birth if that.

So why did my heart hurt so bad?

Kurama stayed silent as I rolled up my mother's letter and headed back to the massive scroll on my table. Unthinking. I but my thumb and reopened the scroll before sealing away both of the letters, and then closing the scroll again.

My breathing was ragged as I wiped my eyes and headed into my bedroom to lay down. I needed to speak to Kurama. I needed his opinion on this matter and what he thought I should do.

Letting my eyes drift closed, I felt my breathing even out a little as darkness claimed me.

* * *

When I opened my eyes to the familiar sight of the sewer that was my mind, I immediately sighed before stalking forwards on my short six year old body's legs. I went straight past the bars of the seal and into the dark beyond it to meet Kurama who was curled up watching me with curious eyes.

I didn't even bother asking permission or anything as I approached and unceremoniously laid myself out across the back of one of his massive forepaws, already aware of the tears that were trying to escape again now that I was in my mindscape. I just laid there for a while, bathing in the comfortable heat of Kurama's surprisingly soft orange fur before I rolled over onto my back and looked up at the ceiling high above me.

Kurama for his part seemed content to let me stew in my own emotions for a while, simply watching me out if the corner of his eye as I put my brain through its paces till I eventually blinked slowly and held my hand up in front of my face as if I were looking for some defect in the flawless appendage.

What seemed like hours later, I finally had my head on straight enough to speak at which point I voiced the only question I had.

"Why?"

Kurama opened his eyes a crack to look at me before he grumbled, **"You're going to need to be more specific Kit."**

I nodded dumbly in acknowledgement and restated my question, my mouth strangely dry as I asked the massive fox that had become my new father a month ago.

"Why does it hurt so much, Kurama-tou-san? I'm not her daughter, but her words still made me so sad that it hurts in my chest. I'm not the baby that spent ten months in her womb, that she died to protect. I'm...I'm someone else who took the place of Kushina's precious Noriko..." I trailed off for a moment before sniffling a little and continuing, "I'm not a love starved, emotionally compromised brat. But all the same, why does the fact that she's gone hurt so damn much? Why do those words feel like exactly what I needed to hear? Why the hell do I love her so fucking much when I don't even know her?!"

The end came out as a shout as I placed both of my hands over my eyes to try and stem the flow of tears I as started to sob for what was eventually several minutes which thankfully passed in relative silence until Kurama finally spoke once I had calmed myself, one of his massive tails sliding up to gently wrap around and curl against my body as he gave a mighty sigh.

 **"Kami you're stupid sometimes, Kit."**

The statement and the weariness within it nearly made me sputter in anger before Kurama's tail gave me a little squeeze to forestall any protests.

 **"You love her so much because you ARE a 'love starved, emotionally compromised brat' as you so termed it. You've been almost completely alone and neglected for the last six years, Kit, and for all my power and greatness, even I'm not arrogant enough that my presence can substitute for the bonds a human being needs, especially when growing up. You may have all your memories, emotions, and experiences from your last life tucked away inside your little head, but that doesn't change your situation."**

I looked at him in confusion and skepticism before he continued.

 **"It was one of those philosophers you're so fond of reading about that wrote 'the mind is a plaything of the body' right? Well look at your situation, for all that you possess an adult mind, you are still in a child's body and as such subject to a child's life. With how the village has treated you and the way you practically cling to the ramen family and the Hokage despite your knowledge is a sign of this. So how can you honestly say that reading the words of the mother who loved you more than life itself and who did everything she could for you would not have some affect on you, Noriko? To assume you could read such a message and remain unchanged is utter arrogance."**

I...I didn't have a response to that as my crying finally trailed off and my mind began to settle while exhaustion started to set in as I leaned in against Kurama's tail with a tired yawn. He wasn't wrong, as much as I didn't like to and didn't want to admit it, he was right. For everything that came with my reincarnation, I was still a six year old little girl starved of the love she desperately needs.

And to receive that love from someone I had thought myself separate from just was too much as I felt my eyelids droop and become heavy as I yawned again. As I reached the very edge of unconsciousness. I mumbled softly as I said, "Thanks...Tou-san.."

I stayed awake just long enough to hear Kurama reply, his tone soft and surprisingly kind as he said, "You're welcome, Kit..."

* * *

I slept through the entire rest of Saturday and solidly into Sunday morning before finally waking with a rumbling growl of hunger echoing from my stomach. It was more than loud enough to make me blush in sleepy embarrassment before I got up and headed to the kitchen, settling for a large bowl of cereal to start the day as I gave Kurama a mental poke to help get him moving as well. It took a bit of trying and swearing on my part, but eventually my new Tou-san awoke and swore before beginning to speak to me.

 ** _'Doing better now, Kit?'_** He asked.

 _'Yeah...much better, tou-san. Thanks for yesterday,'_ I replied softly as I munched my way through my food, considering my options for the day before I asked, _'So I know I planned to do summoning, but do you think I should read my father's letter first or go ahead signing the scroll?'_

 ** _'Read the damn letter, Kit. If you're going to be anything like yesterday, than we might as well get it out of the way now.'_** Kurama replied with a snort, **_'When you sign the scroll though, do make sure to leave some clones behind to be productive.'_**

 _'Hai, hai...'_ I replied with a roll of my eyes before focusing on my food. Soon enough I had eaten, showered, and dressed in clean clothes before I reopened my inheritance and removed my father's letter along with the fuinjutsu book and the wind, earth, and water jutsu scrolls. I set aside the letter as I held the book and scrolls in one hand, making half of the Kage Bushin seal with one hand before pouring a significant chunk of my chakra into the technique.

Instantly there was a cloud of smoke that dispersed to reveal my clone standing there with the same scrolls and book in hand and a ridiculous grin on her face. We shared a nod before she tucked the materials away and transformed into an insect and flew out the window towards the warehouse.

That was really the greatest part about the Kage Bushin in my opinion, and also one of the most confusing. When you created the clone, they were an exact duplicate of the user, including everything they were carrying that wasn't a living creature. As such, the scrolls and the book had been perfectly copied with the technique even though I didn't know what was in them. A small nudge from Kurama serves to keep me from getting off track as I put the original items away and took the letter over to my couch to read in peace and quiet.

Unrolling the scroll, I took in the elegant calligraphy strokes and grimaced, realizing that I did not look forwards to practicing that aspect of fuinjutsu. Shaking my head, I turned my attention from analyzing my father's handwriting and to the message itself.

 _"Hey there Noriko-chan,_

 _In case you didn't know or hadn't already figured it out, I'm your father, Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure. I don't know what circumstances have lead to you having this letter, but I'm sorry that they happened as it means that I have passed away before you could come to know me properly. If that is so, then I hope with all my heart that Kushina is still there for you. I know that's unlikely though as anything that got me likely would have gotten her when she decided to get revenge for my death. Her temper is legendary and I have no doubt she would do so without something significant to prevent it._

 _Whatever the circumstances are that lead you to this letter, know that I'm sorry that I cannot be there for you and that I love you with everything that I am._

 _Now, if you haven't already, read your Kaa-chan's letter first as she knows better than I do what all is contained in most of the seals in the main scroll. I only helped with a few of them and was responsible for three of my own compared to how many your mother took care of. The second seal contains your mother's and mine journals, which we have and will continue to update as often as possible. The third and fourth contain outfits that we put together for you, including some stuff from both of our wardrobes. As such the fourth seal contains several fully outfitted copies of my iconic coat. I'm not sure that you'll want it, but if you do they are available. All of them are mostly new and contain the full range of storage and reinforcement seals that proper clothes should have, I hope you enjoy them._

 _The next seal, the fifth, is mostly Kushina's work as she had the most to give in this regard as a kenjutsu master. There are weapons stored in that seal, from the Uzumaki swords to a variety of normal, if high quality, weapons. The important thing I put in there, if you weren't told already, is a supply of one hundred of my Hiraishin kunai. I don't know if you'll learn the technique, but should you do so, consider them my gift to you for your eventual mastery of it._

 _The sixth and seventh seals contain all the fuinjutsu knowledge and normal jutsus that Kushina and I could lay our hands on. I won't go too much into detail about them as either your Kaa-chan will explain it or you'll just read our messages at the start of the book and each scroll, detailing their usage._

 _The eighth seal is your mother's to work with, and I'll leave it to her. The next three, however, are mine. The ninth contains every tip and trick I've learned for training along with weights and some other materials to help you get stronger as I have no doubt that you will. The tenth seal contains some of you mother's and mine favorite keepsakes. Included in there is the signed, first edition copy of '_ The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi _'. I had originally wanted to name you in honor of the protagonist, Naruto, however Kushina vetoed that. She apparently decided to revoke any right I had to naming ANYTHING after I created my 'Spiraling Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style Three'._

 _Seriously, everyone's a critic!"_

I stared incredulously at those last few lines before I snorted and broke into giggles, barely stopping a sigh of relief at the proverbial bullet I had avoided thanks to Kushina's intervention.

 ** _'And that's the man that sealed me away...how humiliating...'_** Kurama said in utter depression.

 _'Well, if we look at shinobi, all the powerful ones were weird you know. My mother liked ramen, my father sucked at naming stuff. Kakashi's a pervert. Anko's an exhibisionist. And Gai...Gai is Gai I suppose.'_

 ** _'Doesn't make me feel any better, Kit.'_** Kurama grumbled, making me giggle a little more before I shook my head and turned my attention back to the letter.

 _"Anyways, Kushina at least chose something similar for you; Noriko. It's not quite what I wanted but it's good enough I suppose and I love you all the same._

 _The next seal contains legal information. Blood tests, medical records, everything you could ever need to ensure your position in the village and your legal right. You have the option to take up the Uzumaki clan seat on the Shinobi Council if neither of us have made it and the Namikaze one that I was given for becoming Hokage, something each Hokage's clan is given. Should Tsunade not be in the village, you also have the right to claim the Senju seat as well._

 _Within all that legal fluff, you'll find a little black book that was out together at Jiraya's insistence. While neither Kushina not I approve of such an object, we eventually agreed it was something essential for you to have. It is likely a bit out of date, but that book contains every rumor and dirty secret Jiraya could dig up on every individual across the Elemental nations, both friend and foe, especially those in Konoha. As I will grudgingly admit, if neither of us are there, and you have ended up on your own, it is quite possible that legal protection will be hard to come by. As such Jiraya decided that blackmail was the best thing for you to have._

 _Above everything though, I have to warn you to stay away from Danzo. I know that the man wants Konoha to be strong, but his methods are wrong and will see nothing but trouble for us. I ordered ROOT disbanded but I'm sure he's ignored that order. As such if you ever encounter an ANBU with a blank mask, you are to run for help as quickly as possible._

 _The last of my three seals contains my personal jutsus and jutsu creation notes along with some rather comprehensive fighting style guides. There's not much to say beyond that they were created by personal experience and I hope they serve you well, Noriko-chan._

 _The twelfth seal is your mother's and contains things relative to the Uzumaki clan. She'll take care of that so now you know what all is in the scroll and it's time to say goodbye. I want you to know that I love you, Noriko, more than I could ever tell you in simple words, but they will sadly have to suffice in this situation._

 _I love you. No matter what._

 _Your father, Namikaze Minato."_

As I put down the letter, I sighed softly and wiped my eyes, chasing away the traces of moisture that had gathered there before I rolled up the scroll and put it away in the main scroll before moving to the final seal and removing the enormous Summing Contract from it. The thing was ridiculously huge! At least two and a half feet end to end and half a foot thick, the sheer size was ridiculous as I set it down on the table with a heavy thud before beginning to unroll it.

After a few feet of blank scroll, I reached the signatures of the previous clan heads, each and everyone of them written clearly in the Head's blood with their hand prints beneath them, so left hands some right. Nodding, I pierced the tip of my right index finger on a canine and began to sign my name in clear, precise kanji. While I was no calligraphy master yet, my handwriting was still head and shoulders above that of my peers and even many adults, a small mark of pride for me.

 ** _'Kit, make sure to use your left hand to make the print since that'll be the one you use to summon them if this clan accepts you.'_** Kurama instructed.

Giving a mental nod, I formed a Chikage Bushin, the stronger than normal clone appearing in a cloud of smoke before nodding back to me and heading to the couch. That clone had one duty, to take my place should anyone show up to see me.

With that done, I split my thumb on my canine again before smearing the blood across my left hand before quickly stamping it beneath my name, watching as the blood shimmered with light for a moment before dimming back to normal.

Reasonably confident that I had been accepted, I sighed and began moving my chakra to my left hand, feeling Kurama do the same in preparation for the jutsu as I bit my left thumb, ran through the hand seals before slamming my left hand against the floor of my apartment only to disappear in swirling cloud of smoke-

-only to suddenly appear in midair above a rough, jagged chunk of volcanic rock that held a small forest and lake upon it as I looked down and mumbled the only thing that came to mind.

"Oh for Fuck's sake."

Instantly I dropped towards the water some fifty or sixty feet below, flailing struggling to straighten my body so I wouldn't belly flop on impact. I wasn't quite quick enough though, and as I landed with a tremendous splash I felt fire lance through my feet and up into my calves as something split and broke.

Even before I made it to the surface for air, I could feel Kurama's burning youki suffusing my calves and feet to heal the damage. Just as I broke the surface and gasped for breath, trying to blink the water from my eyes, some grabbed me. Something rough, hot, and much bigger than me.

I was lifted from the water and brought before something that exhaled an almost burning hot breath on me before taking a careful sniff, bringing a set of far too large jaws into view, with fangs easily the size of my arms gleaming in the light.

 **"And what have we here? A little human hatchling summoning themselves to this realm? Tell me, hatchling, how did you get here? Should your answer be interesting enough I might not eat you for trespassing."**

It was a long, terrifying minute as I struggled to reign in my fear at the creature before me and respond without pissing myself in sheer terror. It took a burst of Kurama's youki flowing through my coils before I swallowed and spoke, stuttering briefly before managing to calm and strengthen my voice, practically exclaiming my response.

"I-I s-si...I signed the contract!"

There was an immeasurably tense pause before the mouth before me lowered and brought the face it was attached to into view, showing enormous, dull black scales that were each the size of my torso. There were nostrils I could have climbed inside -and what a terrifying thought that was-and then there were the eyes. They were easily as large as I was tall, a brilliant, liquid gold with enormous reptilian slits focusing on me as the summon before me as I was held directly before its eyes, finally registering just what sort of trouble I had gotten myself into.

 _Dragons._ The Uzumaki clan contract was mother fucking dragons. How on earth had they not conquered the world with a contract like this!

 **"Curious, you certainly smell like the Uzumaki to whom we gave our contract, but you don't quite look like one."** The dragon before me rumbled.

"I-I get a lot of my appearance from my father." I said, utterly terrified though it was thankfully starting to fade to dull fear.

 **"Then you are only a half blood...tell me, hatchling, how is it that you successfully signed the Clan Head's contract?"**

"I'm the last one..." I almost whispered, looking down at the massive clawed hand that held me.

 **"The last? The last what?"** The dragon rumbled, annoyance coloring the deep voice.

I steeled my nerves with the knowledge that Kurama-tou-san was there with me and could hopefully get me out if things went bad before I spoke. "I'm the last remaining member of the Uzumaki royal line, and maybe the last remaining Uzumaki period."

There was a shocked silence as the enormous eye in front of me widened, the slit like pupil stretching in surprise.

There was a small rumble from the dragon as its eyes returned to normal before the hand that held me shifted and opened, leaving me sitting on the palm of the massive limb.

 **"That would explain our lack of contact with the human realm...Tell me what you know of the destruction of Uzushio, hatchling."**

I couldn't help but be relieved with the change in my position and I sighed without reservation at the fact I was no longer in danger of being crushed before I looked up at the massive, observant eye and grimaced.

"I...I don't know much about it to be honest as it happened before my birth, but I've read about it a bit," I replied, keeping my voice loud enough for the dragon to hear me, "During the second Great Shinobi War, the villages of Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri banded together in fear of Uzushio's strength, especially their skill in fuinjutsu. I know that the clan head of the time was killed before the battle. I don't know if it was an assassination or a battle, but he died before hand and that severely weakened the defenses in Whirlpool. Subsequently, a combined army from all three villages landed on Uzu and began to attack. They did an enormous amount of damage to the village itself and they killed every single person in the village that didn't manage to escape. The cost though was that the combined army lost something like ninety percent of their entire force before defeating Uzu. There honestly might be more Uzumaki out there, but I don't know with any certainty. The only reason I'm here is because my mother, Uzumaki Kushina, had been sent to Konoha so that she could become the Nidaime Jinchurriki of the Kyuubi no Youko. When she was killed, I became the Sandaime Jinchurriki and inherited everything my parents had, including the summoning scroll."

The dragon was silent for several moments before it lowered me to the ground of beneath us, setting me by the edge of the pool I had landed in before it spoke again, something like regret coloring its voice.

 **"Thank you for explaining that, hatchling. I shall inform my King of your arrival and what has happened since the last contractor died. Wait here on this island and I will return soon enough with his reply to your presence. Should any other dragon arrive and question your presence, tell them that Ancalagon is speaking to the King."**

And with that the dragon -Ancalagon my brain reminded me- stood and spreading enormous wings before pumping them up and down, lifting into the air before flying away and leaving me by myself to wait, a small knot of terror still squirming away in my gut until Kurama interrupted.

 ** _'That went about as well I we could have hoped I suppose.'_**

 _'Yeah. I'm still worried, but at least we're still alive. That guy, Ancalagon, he was at least as big as the Gyuki, maybe even something closer to your size even.'_

 _ **'I noticed. The good news is that should they agree to the contract than we will an ally that would potentially be able to give even the Juubi a run for its money.'**_

 _'I won't let it come to that, but you're right just in case it does get that bad.'_

With an almost stifling silence around me, I ran my hands through my hair before I asked Kurama, _'Hey Tou-san, any ideas on what I can do for the moment?'_

 ** _'Yeah, get in here, if we're waiting then we'll be productive. I have some more seals to show you.'_**

 _'Alright, I'm coming.'_

With that I closed my eyes as I sat down cross legged and entered my mind scape to see what Kurama had to show me.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Well that's that. The result of the dragons contract will be at the start of the next chapter with the fox contract taking place a bit afterwards or in a flashback later on. While I'm all for power being absolute, Noriko will have severe rules in place regarding when she can summon any if the super big/powerful dragons for a long time, likely well past the end of the actual plot itself. She'll be able to summon smaller ones, like dragons closer in size to Gamabunta or the other large toads fairly freely come battle, and otherwise she'll be restricted to the smaller dragons for things like low end fights and communication with the dragon realm. As for why the dragons didn't already know of Uzu's destruction, that'll be explained in the next chapter. So bye bye for now everyone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** Kudos to those who recognized Ancalagon's name last chapter, I was sure some of you would pick it up, but not how many. There will be cookies for those who can identify more of the dragons that will be showing up further on in this story.

Alright, we sadly won't be seeing the fox summoning this chapter, so I'll likely make it a flashback when she first summons them for combat in the future. I can't really think of much else to say besides that, though Noriko is putting a plan in motion to get access to a jutsu repository.

* * *

Going into my mindscape to train with Kurama was likely the best choice I could have made for the time I was waiting for Ancalagon's return, otherwise it would have been utterly, mind-numbingly, boring.

Why?

Because it was almost nine hours before the massive dragon returned.

When he did though, it was an amazing sight. With a warning of his approach from Kurama, I had time to get out of my mindscape to watch Ancalagon's massive black form swoop down towards me, pulling up and flaring his wings at the last possible moments. He almost tossed me across the ground with the winds from from his enormous wings, the inky black skin between the bones turning a deep purple as light from the early afternoon sun shone through from behind him.

With chakra keeping my grip, I managed to remain upright as the bulk of Ancalagon's form touched down in the clearing where he had left from, shudders running through the loose soil beneath us and sending small waves through the water to my side. I watched carefully as the scaly mountain of flesh refolded his wings before bring his head down to look at me when he started speaking.

 **"The King has declared you to be an acceptable summoner, hatchling Noriko. You will be free to summon most of us once you have spoken with him and agreed to the terms of what you will provide in exchange for our services. As such I shall take you to him,"** he rumbled, extending a massive hand out to rest in front of me with his claws his only partially curled up in a rather obvious gesture.

I couldn't help a small grimace before I sprinted forwards and leapt up onto Ancalagon's hand, being forced to use my chakra to help adhere to his scales until I was securely in his palm at which point he curled his claws in close around me.

 **"Now hold tight, I would hate for our new summoner to fall to her death before even completing the contract."** The condescension in his tone made me scowl but a quick reminder from Kurama got me to give on glaring the massive dragon to death and instead hold tight to his thumb -which was nearly as large as a grown up Ibiki or Jiraya.

Once he was satisfied with my hold, Ancalagon took off as before, his expansive wings stretching wide before beginning to pump up and down, lifting us into the air alongside a generous push from his legs to give us some initial momentum before he tilted forwards and took off, gradually gaining speed as we flew off towards a darkened horizon, a wide grin spreading across my face as I watched the land below fly by.

Granted I flown before on airplanes and they had long since ceased to really entertain me, but this was entirely different experience. The cool air rushing by made my eyes water and was undoubtedly ruining my already wild hair, a chill touched my skin that I was forced to counter with an increased circulation of my chakra through my coils, but it was exhilarating. The feeling of freedom as Ancalagon carried me in silence left me almost giggly as I watched low-hanging clouds pass over us, and even on occasion other dragons.

The speed with which we passed each other though kept me from recognizing them as much more than flashes of unusual color.

After nearly an hour airborne, the air began to cool significantly and the sky started to darken, making me frown in confusion as I watched the sun disappear behind thick, solid black clouds. Twenty minutes later and what I thought to be snow started falling around us. It was only after catching a flake on my tongue and then furiously scrubbing it clean on my clothes that I realized what it was.

Ash. Fine, powdery ash.

It was when we drew closer that the dark horizon ahead of us began to gain an almost venomous orange glow that kept me wondering as to what lay ahead until the last sign I needed to identify what was causing these things appeared. Dozens of pea sized stones falling from the sky like rain. It wasn't a heavy and the stones were light and porous, but it still scared the shit out of me until realization set in.

We were headed towards an enormous volcano that was rising from the horizon. Or rather several volcanoes. As we closed the distance, I could make out what was almost a spine of volcanic peaks stretching left and right, rivers of vivid orange lava pouring down the slopes between jagged spires and obsidian and barren plains of soil. We had closed to within a mile of the volcanoes and the temperature had begun to rise, already passing the pleasant topical temperature from where I had arrived to start approaching hellish levels as sweat started to pour from my brow and stick my bangs to my face before quickly evaporating.

I was so focused on the inhospitable landscape ahead of us that I hardly noticed Ancalagon slowing and dropping towards the ground until he finally slammed down on rocky, blackened ground and jarred my concentration.

 **"My King will speak once you enter the protection seal on the granite ahead of you and activate it with your chakra. It was placed there by our first summoner so that he could speak to the King safely and it has served each subsequent summoner well."** Ancalagon instructed, opening his hand so I could climb out into the rocky ground before taking several quick, almost panicky stride to stand atop the pad in the center of a seal that I estimated to be about twelve feet across.

Pushing chakra out of my feet and into the seal, I jumped slightly as the drain from it increased significantly before settling as a transparent bubble appeared around me.

 _ **'And here we go, Kit. I can't help but wonder what this "King" of theirs looks like. Even with all the ages I have existed I had not even known there were dragon summons.'**_

 _'Yeah, well we're about to find out.'_ I replied shortly, my nerves getting the better of me as I conjured all sorts of mental images of what sort of creature made a hellish landscape like this its home.

Whatever thoughts I had had though, were quickly banished as the ground trembled like an enormous earthquake, tossing me onto my ass despite the chakra holding my feet to the granite slab. As I looked up in hopes of seeing the King's arrival only to feel my jaw drop open in surprise and utter terror as I realized what I was looking at as the King revealed himself.

The range of volcanoes that had risen in front of me before jumped and shook, rising even higher into the air as the lava rivers sloshed and jumped in their channels. Crevices half as wide as Konoha began to open in the mountain slopes, yawning caverns that had no visible bottom but emitted the bright orange glow of lava somewhere far bellow. Entire sheets of jagged, shining, black obsidian cracked and trembled, lifting and separating from each other as new rivers of larval appeared, flowing from the depths of the sigh before me to spread like veins across the surface of the mountains.

A singular, enormous section of earth lifted from the ground in a ponderous motion before there was a tremendous **CRACK** as the stone and rock half way down its length broke and began to flow with lava, long streamers and rivers of the molten stone pouring from the blackened sky to splash on the ground. As I watched, utterly mesmerized by the sight before me, I saw the thick of earth begin to bend at the crack, flexing in several different directions before the tip of it split apart into five enormous lengths, each one several times the size of the Hokage Tower in Konoha.

Then the earth, the limb I realized, came down. The five ridiculously large clawed fingers sank deep into the earth -dumping me onto my ass again- before stopping as a subsonic rumble races through everything around me. With that, I watched as the volcanoes proceeded to peel themselves up off of the ground below, bright orange lava pouring from the cracks along the newly exposed surface. I watched as the leftmost side pulled itself up, jagged crags of stone and flowing streams of lava intermingling as they ran out along the new appendage before raising high to the sky. And then slamming down. Hard.

The impact of the tail left me feeling almost sick as I was tossed about, despite having decided to remain on my ass where I had been dumped. Motion to my right drew my attention back to what was taking place before my eyes as I watched as I the right most section of earth was pulled free, a enormous section of obsidian cracking and splitting before twisting as it took on some terrifying facsimile of a head before turning to look directly at me. Two enormous, cavernous holes in the rocky head focused on me, the almost sinister light of the molten lava providing an unsettling glow as I watched the face draw closer and closer until it sat a bare hundred feet from me, lowered down to ensure its eyes could watch me while scorching, white-hot lava poured between the jagged spires of stone that made up the teeth in its mouth.

There was silence, complete and utter silence for a few blessed seconds before the...the creature before me spoke.

It's voice was louder and deeper than anything I had ever heard before, seeming to trail down out of my enhanced range of hearing with a noises like grinding stones -how appropriate I mused to myself- as it introduced itself.

 **"I am Emberstoke the Eternal, little hatchling."** It said, a scorching heat raving out alongside its breath, raising the temperature around me significantly despite  
the protective seal, **"I have existed since the birth of your world and I shall exist long after your tiny kind has vanished into dust. Tell me why you need the strength of the dragons. Your predecessors needed us to protect their village, but you no longer have such a village protect. So tell me, hatchling, why I should permit you the use of our power."**

I was stunned, utterly stunned as the King of the Dragons, Emberstoke the Eternal as he had said, asked me what I needed their power for. It was a few moments of quiet as I stared into his empty sockets, my heart pounding in my ears before I swallowed and spoke, my mouth feeling like cotton as I answered.

"I need you strength to protect myself from those who would harm me so that I can thrive in a world that hates me. More than that though, I need your strength, your raw power to prevent the resurrection of the Juubi, and failing that, to defeat it."

There was a pause before the dragon before me reared back and let out a deep rumble that I eventually realized was an almost mocking laughter as I frowned in frustration before I turned my attention back to Emberstoke as he lowered his head again, and spoke, a humorous tilt to his tone.

 **"How do you know of the Juubi, Hatching? Such a creature has long since faded into myth and memory if not disappeared completely. So where did you learn of it?"**

"I...I am..."

 ** _'Tell him Kit. We can't hide the truth of this from him.'_**

Nodding to myself -and Kurama- I steeled myself and continued speaking.

"I-I got reincarnated, with some sort of future sight ability," I began, trying desperately not to piss myself as I could just feel those empty eyes above me narrow and look down at me, "More than that though, I have Kurama, The Kyuubi no Youko sealed inside of me. He was willing to tell me about the Juubi and how that happened."

 **"The fox resides within you...I had thought I felt his chakra, although it is strangely diminished. Why is that?"**

"When he was sealed into me, the Shinigami was summoned to perform the ritual and in doing so he took the Yin half of Kurama along with the sealer's soul in exchange."

The dragon paused at that before nodding, lava splashing out of his eyes before he replied, **"You would do well to rectify that, Hatchling. I believe your clan created a mask for the purpose of undoing such seals that required Shinigami-sama's aid. Now do you have any questions before we discuss the terms you will need to fulfill for the contract?"**

"I am already looking for it, Emberstoke-sama, and I would like to ask if it would be possible for me to undergo Senjutsu training here under the dragons. Along with that, I would like to know what changes signing the contract will have on me." I answered.

 **"Ah, I am surprised that you know of Senjutsu already, but if you really are reincarnated than that would explain that easily. As for training, the answer to that is yes. One of our species' elders will determine if you are ready yet, and they will train you should they deem you ready. As for physical changes, you can expect that all of your senses will increase significantly, your lifespan will increase and your healing rate will grow, you will become stronger and more resistant to elements in all senses as well. There would have been more changes, but I can see that Kurama already has his hooks in you, which I would like you to explain."**

My lips made a tiny line as I remembered what brought about the changes Emberstoke asked of. Swallowing back my bile, I began to explain the attack and the damage that had been done to me along with Kurama's refusal to have a weak container at which point he decided to make me his heir so I would survive. As I finished the explaining the situation, we fell into a slightly awkward silence as the Dragon King considered my story before he gave a tiny tilt of his head to me.

 **"I am sorry for what was done to you, Hatchling, but you are stronger for it and I feel you will make a fine summoner. The only requirement that I have for you to fulfill in exchange for our aid is that you will help raise our hatchlings. We have been locked within our world for decades, as such our youngest need to learn and grow, and more importantly, experience the world outside our protection. I expect you to teach them both reading and writing, along with whatever other skills you possess. You will be required to train three, but for each hatchling after that you will be permitted to select a dragon other than myself to be a dedicated summon that you may bring forth for reasons outside of battle. The most important restriction for you though is that I am not to be summoned under any circumstances unless the Juubi has been recreated."**

"I...I can do that. Not all of the skills I can teach your hatchlings will be what you might consider...pertinent though."

 **"Such as?"**

I could feel the skepticism in those words as I grimaced and replied, "I'm only just starting in combat and stealth related abilities. Most of what I can teach at the moment would be knowledge and skills in things like mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry, and literature."

Emberstoke was silent for several seconds before he nodded and replied, **"That will have to do. We will check in on the hatchlings you train every so often. Their safety will be up to you, but should it be needed you may summon one of us to help if the danger is too much for you to handle on your own."**

"I-I understand Emberstoke-sama." I replied with trepidation.

 **"Good, now return to your realm, summon one of us when you are ready to begin training a hatchling."** Emberstoke replied, his tone returning to the neutral grinding that he had had at the start.

And with that, I disappeared in a cloud of smoke only to reappear back in my apartment and drop flat on my back, not even realizing it as I passed out from the shear stress that had built up during the meeting with the dragons.

* * *

Pain.

Ooooo my back hurt. And that light was fucking bright. Jesus Christ why did I feel so shitty? My entire body ached.

 _ **'About time you woke up, Kit.'**_ A voice rumbled through my mind.

 _'...Kurama-tousan?'_ I replied after a moment.

 ** _'No it's the Grinch. Of course it's me you foolish little child.'_**

 _'Oye! Not a child!'_

 _ **'You're enough of one that you apparently need reminders not to do stupid things, and I did notice that you didn't deny the foolish part.'**_ Kurama shot back, **_'Besides that you're my heir which gives me the carte blanche to berate you as needed.'_**

 _'...Fine, but what the hell did I do to deserve this early morning tongue lashing?'_ I asked sullenly as I opened my eyes a crack and looked up at my ceiling.

 _ **'You actually managed to almost kill yourself and by extension me with chakra exhaustion, Noriko.'**_

The thought that I had yet again had a brush with death made me pale and shiver with a chill of fear before I suddenly froze in confusion.

 _'How the fuck did I do that?'_ I demanded sharply.

 _ **'You finalized the contract with the dragon's, Kit. Did you really think that a simple signature and blood offering was all it took to establish a contract?'**_ He demanded.

 _'Well yeah. Besides you didn't warn me or anything so I thought I was doing alright.'_

For some reason I got the distinct impression that Kurama was face palming.

Ignoring that though, his voice was a touch strained as began to explain just what I had fucked up.

 _ **'Kit, the contract functions in a way similar to the Fourth's Hiraishin as I understand that jutsu. Essentially it makes you into a beacon like his kunai which allows the summoned creatures to teleport to you. Forging the link between you and them is a chakra intensive process, and it only becomes for so the stronger the summons you're contracting. So by finalizing the contract with the dragons, reverse summoning yourself, and making that Chikage Bushin, you very nearly ran yourself dry. Which incidentally is why you feel like shit, or at least part of it. Passing out on the floor probably didn't help.'**_

Groaning in resignation, I levered myself upright, confirming my sleeping place as I heard Kurama chuckle in the back of my mind which made me grimace a little in embarrassment.

Really those summon scrolls needed instruction booklets.

That was a matter to pursue at another time though as I climbed to by feet and stretched, popping joints and easing some tense muscles before heading into the kitchen. I felt absolutely starved as I put a pan on the stove and pulled out eggs and sausage for my breakfast. It was slow, but the results were tasty, so after I had dispatched a Kage Bushin to clean up my mess, I showered and pulled on some clean sleepwear before slipping beneath my covers after I pulled the blinds on my window.

Fuck the academy. I just contracted the dragons and nearly killed myself. There is nothing on Heaven and Earth that will get me out of bed and into there today. Today I was going to sleep and be lazy. It wasn't a scheduled goof-off day, but hey, spontaneity and all that.

* * *

As it turns out, there was something on God's green earth that could get me up and out of bed; a full bladder. The sun light coming from outside had dimmed and taken on a darker hue as I woke and slipped from beneath the bedcovers to go and relieve myself. When I cane back out, I noted my Chikage Bushin had apparently returned and was even now making dinner.

"Evening boss." She greeted before turning her attention back to the stove. It was a little weird I'll admit to be waited on by yourself, but that was hardly the biggest thing on my mind right now. Between needing to uphold the Dragon Contract's requirements and my own little plots and projects, I wasn't sure where the time was going. Things seemed so much simpler before I asked for my inheritance.

All I had to do was train and deal with classes, now I had teaching a dragon, sage arts, and everything else in that scroll to deal with.

As my clone set dinner before me, I nodded my thanks and began to eat only to suddenly hiss in pain as I massaged my temples. There was an overwhelming rush of images and thoughts as my clones began popping one after another for several moments, dumping two days worth of intense training into my head with each one.

Grimacing as I felt Kurama start digging through the new memories and information, I began the mental process of organizing things and figuring out what had happened. It was as I worked my way back to the first clone's memories I found myself pausing.

There had been a cave-in that had claimed nearly forty clones. Only that wasn't right, they weren't supposed to be underground right?

 _ **'Your clones are ambitious, Kit.'** _ Kurama remarked with amusement.

 _'What do you mean Tou-san?'_

' _ **I mean that when your clones learned the first few Dotons they decided to start digging and make a better base for practice. Only one of them brought the place down somehow with a Kinjutsu. They'll likely have it repaired by tomorrow if your new memories are anything to go by, but it was rather entertaining in my opinion.'**_

 _'That's 'cause you're a sadist, Kurama.'_ I sniped.

The fox gave me the mental equivalent of a shrug before I sighed and returned to my dinner, one hand still rubbing my aching temple.

* * *

The next few months passed quietly for the most part, though there was one rather memorable incident with a civilian girl at the Academy whose name was Ami. Apparently my marked disinterest in Sasuke Uchiha had kept me off the radar of his rabid horde of fan girls, but that changed though when the teacher assigned random partners and I ended up partnered with the broody boy.

 ** _-Flashback Start-_**

 _I immediately picked up the heated glares from most of my female classmates when the teacher made the announcement. Before now I had been unworthy of their notice, merely a fool whose only friend was the shy, stuttering Hyuuga heiress. Now though I was front and center in the eyes of the vicious fan girls that trailed Sasuke everywhere he went. Manning up so to speak, I sighed and shook my head as I left my seat beside Hinata to move next to Sasuke._

 _As I approached, the boy, I took note of his behavior, the cautious, calculating eyes that looked upon me with something verging on disdain. Of course I knew why he did though, I was the 'dobe' dead last of our class and he assumed I was going to drag him down. That wasn't going to happen of course, but it was the impression I willingly gave with my behavior and work during class._

 _Offering him a lazy shrug, I dropped into the seat beside Sasuke, briefly adjusting the low ponytail that I had tied at the nape of my neck to help keep my spiky hair under control. Sasuke merely looked away and back to our teacher as everyone finished moving seats._

 _"Alright everyone," sensei called out, "it's almost lunch, so I'll give you the instructions now to think about while you eat. Afterwards you'll be working with your partner to complete the assignment."_

 _As the man droned on, I let my attention fade, only paying enough attention to catch the instructions before I leaned back in my seat and gave a yawn when the bell sounded. Not caring to socialize with Sasuke for the moment, I left the room and made it too the roof to eat in peace and quiet._

 _It was as I returned to the classroom that things got interesting though. Just down the hall from our classroom, Ami and three other girls stepped out from where they'd been against the wall to block my path. As I raised an eyebrow at their actions, Ami glared at me as she folded her arms over her chest as she declared, "This is your only warning Dobe. Don't screw up Sasuke-kun's grade. Your not worth being his partner so you better not fail like you always do."_

 _I kept silent for a moment before I replied, a heavily sarcastic drawl to my tone as I asked, "And is there anything else you wanted oh queen-of-the-stupid?"_

 _Now, while Ami and her cohorts weren't really experienced enough to get the sarcasm, they certainly did pick up on my insult, which resulted in some rather entertaining faces as they seemingly puffed up with anger, their cheeks turning red._

 _"Listen here, dead last. You're nothi-" Ami began as she started to practically hiss with indignation until I cut her off._

 _"No. Why don't you four go back to your seats and give up on trying to intimidate me. I've seen puppies more frightening than you and you wouldn't win in a fight anyways, so such up and do my ears a favor." I said coldly._

 _Either not caring about or just flat out ignoring my warning, Ami unfolded her arms and reached for my left bicep in an attempt to ratchet the bullying up to physical levels. The problem there was that I was better at it, and not just that, i likely weighed about forty percent more than Ami even though she was taller than me thanks to Kurama._

 _Thus as soon as her hand was a few inches from my arm, my left hand shot up and grabbed her wrist before yanking her forwards as I turned to the left, extending a foot to catch Ami's and send her forwards onto her face._

 _There was pure silence for a moment before Ami seemed to realize what I had done and that she was actually experiencing a bit of pain at which point she started crying and quickly scrambled up and ran for the nurse's office, her three idiot cohorts trailing quickly behind her. I snorted briefly before turning on my heel and heading into the classroom, taking my temporary seat beside Sasuke._

 ** _-Flashback End-_**

That confrontation out me firmly in the sights of Sasuke's fan girls, which included Ino and Sakura at this point it seemed. Granted I didn't care as none of them seemed interested in trying to pick a fight with me, but all of them certainly glared at me far more intensely and let rumors fly wildly in the halls. It wasn't really important, and I just couldn't bring myself to care. Granted the issue wasn't helped along by the fact that I actually got a better grade on the project than almost anyone else thanks to my pairing with Sasuke preventing the teachers from automatically failing me.

Really, school was just a great example of human cruelty and pettiness. Nothing more, nothing less.

At least that was my opinion which Kurama seemed to share.

The detention I got from tossing Ami did see Hiruzen dropping by my apart to ask about why I was fighting in class. Once I had recounted my side of the story, I ended up with the detention being removed from my Academy record and an apology on the behalf of the teachers from Hiruzen. That made me give the old Hokage a genuine smile before we got on to discussing a few more things that were vastly more important, namely what use I was getting out of my inheritance.

"So you signed the Uzumaki Contract..." Hiruzen mused from the seat opposite me at my kitchen table as he puffed on his pipe once before asking, "Any chance you'll tell me what the clan is that the contract belonged to?"

I shot him an impish grin before I replied, "No way, Jiji, I want to keep this secret. Besides that, I can't even summon them for battle yet since I haven't been able to start with my side of the agreement yet."

"Oh? And what do you have to uphold?"

Keeping up my cheerful demeanor, I felt my grin become positively foxy as I answered, "I get to help raise some of their young. I have to teach them to read and write and some other things, but in exchange for each one I help raise I can pick any one member of their clan besides the boss to be a personal summon."

Hiruzen nodded thoughtfully as he looked me over for a moment before smiling as he asked, "So I expect that Minato and Kushina left you you scrolls to learn from Noriko-chan. Have you found anything interesting yet?"

Nearly jumping from my seat with exaggerated joy, I pulled my hands together in the familiar cross shape before a quartet of clones popped into existence behind me and I answered, "Yeah, Kaa-san left this awesome jutsu called the Kage Bushin for me. It's really neat how I remember what they do and stuff."

The Hokage's eyes had gone wide at the sight of my clones before he smiled slight and spoke.

"I'll ask you to be careful with that jutsu Noriko-chan, it's an extremely chakra intensive jutsu. Please don't make anymore than a couple at a time."

Deciding to play things up a little, I sheepishly brought my right hand up to scratch the back of my head as I nervously replied, "Only a couple? But I can make dozens of them Jiji! It's no fun if I only have a few."

Again Hiruzen's eyes widened before he closed them with a smirk and a chuckle as he took in my words.

"Oh alright Noriko-chan, make them as you will, but please be careful, I don't want to see you get hurt at all."

"You got it, Jiji!" I replied cheerfully, flashing my surrogate grandfather a wide grin and a thumbs up.

He gave an honest laugh at the pose I made before settling back in to talk about a few more minor things till it was closing on mid afternoon, at which point he finally bade me goodbye before vanishing in a swirl of shunshin alongside his ANBU guards.

Little did they or anyone else know that my newest plan had been put into motion as we spoke, by a tiny, tiny spider clinging to Uchiha Itachi's pant leg.

With that out of the way, and moving on its own, I started on an early dinner. If I wanted to try out the random reverse summoning tomorrow then I would need to be both well rested and well fed.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So there's chapter six. It felt a bit boring and a but clunky and I rewrote several parts of it again and again, but in the end this is how it is. As always, comments and criticisms are welcome and I hope that you all enjoyed this latest installment.

Ja ne!


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Interestingly, Noriko will begin working on some creations to introduce real war to the Elemental Nations. Granted, when I say that, I don't demean the fact that by their standards, the first, second, and third wars were certainly bloody and violent. But by the standards of our own world they could barely be counted as a serious engagement, much less a war. So we'll be seeing just what methods of modern conflict Noriko is bringing with her.

Other than that, we'll find out what was in the black scroll that was sealed in with the dragon contract, and I'll admit here and now that it is blatantly inspired by/copied from Iryo-nin Kasa, which is a far superior piece of writing compared to my own works. So go read it after this chapter.

The last thing we'll see is Noriko's new hobby/occupation.

* * *

More than a year had passed since I had signed the Dragon contract. In a way things had changed significantly and they had also stayed the same. For instance, my interactions with the village of Konoha were still exactly the way they had been before, only there were fewer instances during which civilians attempted violence against me. On the opposite side though, my private studies and my growth behind my outer facade had been phenomenal. My physical abilities were close at mid-chunin level if not high chunin already due to all the help from Kurama and the effects of the Dragon contract. My jutsu abilities had to be solid jounin level by now as well. I had mastered twelve A rank jutsus and nearly a hundred more in the D to B rank categories.

I was quite satisfied with that progress, but if there was any real point of pride for me, it was and is my skill in fuinjutsu. With nearly two hundred clones cranking away at various projects and the guide book my parents had left me, I had reached a point where I was certain of my mastery. I wasn't sure if I was a match for Orochimaru's cursed seal yet, but I was able to pull apart large sections of my father's Hiraishin seal to analyze. I couldn't use it yet, but I was close, extremely so.

The subject of seals brought another set of all-too vivid memories to mind as I looked down and scowled at my bandaged arms. My limbs weren't really injured and any damage they had had would have been taken care of in short order, but they were now marked, and with my current position in the world I was taking no chances in someone coming after me for what was inked across my skin.

The marks still burned like when I first got them when I made use of them, but it was fading. Soon they would be fully adjusted to my body and the pain would go away all together, at least according to the damn things themselves.

 ** _-Flashback Start-_**

 _"Alright. Summons are contracted, jutsu study is underway, seal study is underway, and my physical training is ahead of schedule. So what's next, Tou-san?" I asked Kurama, speaking out loud in the sealed privacy of my apartment._

 ** _'Well there are a couple things you could do Kit, but if I had to pick one it would be opening and using that black scroll that came with the contract.'_**

 _"That thing scares the shit out of me, Kurama, and you know it." I groused, "It's like I'm looking at a massive graveyard whenever I see it."_

 ** _'Well it's a Saturday and early morning, grab the thing and head to the base. You might as well get this over with, it's been three months Kit, and that feeling won't go away on its own.'_**

 _"Why are you so insistent? This isn't like you Tou-san." I asked softly as I removed my inheritance scroll from a storage seal just beneath my sternum._

 ** _'I'm insistent because it's unnatural and I want it dealt with, not sitting around in our home, Noriko.'_**

 _Ah, he used my name. That was the sign that I should just shut up and listen. I had eventually taken notice after the last few months of the...affection that had entered our relationship and partnership during our conversations._

 _It was enough that I finally caved to his demands._

 _"Fine, you win." I replied, taking the black scroll and sealing it into my palm before putting the main scroll away. A Kage Bushin and a quick shunshin served to get me unnoticed out if my apartment and to my warehouse base whereupon I unsealed the rather...significant hole in the floor my clones had made which had turned into a tunnel dropping straight down into the earth with lighting seals every ten feet in rings of eight around the tunnel's circumference._

 _Making a control exercise of this little trip, I tilted over the edge and stuck to the wall before walking straight down after resealing the entrance behind me. While I had never properly measured the depth of the shaft, I was fairly certain it was close to a full mile give e time it took to reach the bottom._

 _The end of the shaft, as it were, was a completely bare room six feet high by twelve feet on either side. A single door on one wall lead into a thirty foot passage that then needed in another door which opened into my main training hall._

 _As I opened that second door and took in the sight of hundreds of my clones studying, practicing, and improving, a little chuckle escaped me. Yes this room was a 'hall', but while accurate that word was sadly lacking in intensity._

 _The main hall was a circular cavern, which had originally been more than a dozen natural caves before my clones took to work. Now it was a circular room with a ceiling about five hundred feet above the center and and a diameter of a thousand feet._

 _This one room had taken weeks of work the part of literally thousands of my clones and nearly seventy overloaded and worn out storage scrolls to make. But now, now it was finished, and dozens of rooms ringed the outer edge of the chamber, providing quieter and more protected environments in which sensitive experiments and tests could occur._

 _It was one of these rooms that I made a beeline to, accompanied by a dozen freshly created clones that were ready to try out my new iryojutsus if anything went wrong. So as I knelt down in the middle of the classroom sized practice room, I slit my finger on a tooth and swiped it across the scarlet seal on the black scroll before unrolling it. With a few seconds to look it over, I noted how the entire scroll was an inky black. Where most scrolls had vellum or parchment for a writing surface, this scroll just as a sheet of solid black interrupted by two rather plain circular seals in white that were helpfully labeled 'left' and 'right'._

 _I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the lack of proper instruction but I followed my gut and put my hands on the respective circles before I pushed chakra out of my palms and into the scroll._

 _There was a noticeable pause where nothing happened before my entire body lit up with pain, the spasming, burning sensation reminding my distinctly of a short training session I had had with the lightning dragon by the name of Donnerschlag, only far more painful._

 _My voice rose and rose in pitch and volume before it finally became too much for my stressed vocal chords to continue with in their already damaged state. I could feel something that I could only mentally compare to boiling water, only hundreds of times worse climbing across my fingers and onto my hands. The pain slid across my palms and the back of my hands slowly before eventually reaching my wrists and making its way up my forearms towards my elbows. There were noises all around me, unfamiliar voices, strange scents like brine and tasty foods. Were it not so fucking painful I would have said the experience was almost surreal._

 _I only lasted a little longer before passing out, though going by the memories of my clones I kept thrashing and trying to scream long after that until the process finally finished a hour after starting._

 _In my clone's memories after the fact, I could see how the skin of my arms, all the way up to almost reach my shoulders and collarbones, was heavily inflame. There were thin tracks of vivid red irritation running between and around thousands of black scribbles that now covered my limbs starting just past my wrists. As I woke with a pained grunt I could only whimper as my clones tended to my arms before I looked to my injured limbs to take in just had happened._

 _The black swirls and symbols were completely baffling with how much pain I was in when I woke up so I settled for turning my attention to the scroll that was the source of the issue only to gape in surprise._

 _The previously white seal circles on the scroll were deep black now and the previously onyx writing surface of the scroll was bone white now. It didn't strike me that the scroll was used up and worthless now -it still felt unnatural- but more like it was waiting to be used again._

 _With the pain putting tears in my eyes though, I resolved to puzzle that mystery later as I munched on a snack bar a clone shoved in my mouth after I had laid back down._

 ** _-Flashback End-_**

My thoughts were dragged away from my past choices and into the current moment by a defeating **-CRACK-** which was almost instantly followed by an even louder **-BOOM-** and then the on rush of memories that belonged to a trio of clones several hundred feet away. Looking up from partially filled notebook I had been writing in, I scowled slightly at the fading cloud of dust, watching as teams of clones moved in on the site and hosed the dust and smoke away with D class Suiton jutsus and C class Doton jutsus to ensure the location was intact.

My concern for the progress of my clones was derailed when my inner demon decided to speak his mind.

 ** _'I will state it again, Kit, the fact that your last world left the knowledge of how to create these things out in the open for anyone is idiotic.'_** Kurama stated in a slightly sour tone.

 _'I'm well aware of that Tou-san,'_ I replied with exaggerated tiredness, _'However, they didn't put everything out there on the web so of course there's quite the learning curve. Some mistakes are inevitable, I'm just fortunate I have my Bushins to make them for me.'_

 _ **'No kidding, I would not be happy if I had to put you back together after that last failure, or any of the other failures, Noriko.'**_

 _'Neither would I, Kurama, neither would I. The good news is that they're getting closer to managing to make real Semtex though,'_ I mused, obviously distracted as I sorted through my new memories.

 _ **'Yes, a five foot deep crater is certainly closer.'**_ Sniped Kurama.

 _'It is! Last time it was eight feet and part of the test room collapsed!'_ I cried out in mock hurt.

 _ **'Yes, well just make sure it doesn't get worse, I don't fancy getting buried alive a mile underground.'**_

 _'Neither do I. Now if you don't mind, I've almost figured out the key to the seals on my arms so I'll finally be able to figure out what they are and how to use them properly_.'

 _ **'Then get to it.'**_ Kurama snorted before I felt him curl up to sleep in the back of my mind.

Damn fox. He just had to go and sleep so I couldn't bitch to him, of course I wouldn't bitch at him, but just knowing someone was around to hear me whine made it so much better when I needed to. I had a task ahead of me though, so after replacing the three lost clones with new ones, I returned to my task of remembering, translating, and subsequently writing out the entirety of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

I wasn't sure how such fantasy stories would sell in a world of ninjas, but Tolkien's work was solid without a doubt so I was hopeful.

* * *

After three additional months of training and effort, I finally hit a wall so to speak in my efforts to improve myself, even with the aid of the memory seals across my arms. The issue that was in my way was experience.

I could train and study and practice all I wanted to, but the fact was that if I didn't have experience in real combat then all of my abilities would be severely handicapped. Against foes that thought exactly as I did and had the same capabilities, namely Kage Bushins, I wasn't experiencing any of the danger and unpredictability that created seasoned warriors.

And while not a wall per say, I also had another issue slowing me down, namely money. The tools necessary for training -kunai, shuriken, dummies, scrolls, ink, brushes, etc- all cost money. I could steal some of what I needed, but if I took too much ANBU would become involved rather than the disinterested Uchiha police, and that would be good for no one involved. Some of what I needed could be found in training grounds and the Forest of Death, but blank scrolls and sealing ink were rare finds outside of the proper stores. This I needed money beyond my relatively meager allowance from Hiruzen if I wanted to keep up my efforts.

As such I chose to solve both issues with one act if possible via the course of bounty hunting. So after a brief trip into ANBU headquarters to put glue in their coffee makers, I snagged a freshly printed bingo book before retreating to my apartment so I could read it in peace. As I read, I made sure to pay careful attention to all of the profiles, especially skills and the like before picking out a half a dozen missing ninja in the C-rank range that seemed to prefer hanging out in the Land of Fire rather than outside the borders.

Getting out of the village proved to be embarrassingly easy between a disguise, a plan, and a ChiKage Bushin taking my place to ensure no one noticed my absence. After waiting for the merchant caravan to come to Konoha, I transformed into a simple, unassuming man of about thirty years old, giving myself decent looking, if slightly old clothes and average looks to ensure I was overlooked. From there I paid one of the medium sized merchant carts to hitch a ride to an outlying village near where one of my targets had set up ship with a group of bandits that the caravan would pass through a few hours after leaving Konoha.

Getting out the gates was easy, the Uchiha police there hardly paid attention to the people riding in and on the merchants' carts and carriages, instead merely ensuring that my ride's papers were in order.

What followed was a boring, bumpy, and hot, five hour long ride along one of Hi no Kuni's major roads, trading stories and jokes with some of the people riding along with me. When we reached the village that was my supposed destination, I bid them a fond farewell and headed towards the village inn with the apparent goal of getting a roof for the night.

Once I was out of sight, I disappeared into the surrounding forest via shunshin before changing my appearance, taking on the appearance of a very fit young woman in her early twenties with light gray hair and vivid, yellow-gold eyes similar to a cat's...or Ancalagon's. From there I unsealed my supplies for my foray outside the safety of the village walls. There were two simple, matching katanas -which had come from a dead Kumo-nin in the last Chunin Exams- a supply of kunai, shuriken and exploding tags to fill out my weapon supplies. There was a full set of ANBU armor which over the course of months I had stolen the pieces to out of the worn and damaged armor that was thrown away until I had finally put together a complete, adult sized set of armor.

Of course I had made a number of changes when assembling it to ensure that the source wouldn't be identified, I had absolutely no interest in explaining that to Jiji much less anyone else. That armor went over a black bodysuit that I had reinforced with seals to do everything from keeping me cool and dry to ensuring the suit didn't tear on every scratch and could absorb some kinetic energy from impacts. Once the armor was over my bodysuit -a very of which I made note to get after graduation in my size, it was far too comfortable not to- I strapped on my weapons and returned my scrolls to their seals before pulling a dark gray cloak over everything which a hood to hide my face and hair. The last item, which I was rather proud of, was a helmet like mask similar in shape and appearance to a standard ANBU mask, only with a black, snarling dragon painted onto it with much greater detail than an ANBU mask to ensure it was not confused as such. That mask had been Kurama-tousan's idea, and I freely admitted it was awesome.

With all of that ready though, I had then set out in search of my first target...

...which lead me to the situation I was now in.

Perched in a tree just outside the edges of the camp, I watched with a disgusted grimace beneath my mask as a young woman, probably no older than about sixteen was dragged into the makeshift shack that sat in the center of the bandit camp. They were clearly a mobile group going by the sturdy and well maintained tents meaning that the shack was something they had found so I wouldn't have to worry too much about hidden compartments or serious traps. I needed to act quickly, so after taking a moment to sense the number of presences in the camp -there were twelve not including the teenager I had seen- I created three clones and nodded to them and we all drew our katanas before disappearing with a shunshin-

-and reappearing in the camp.

Two of my clones bashed down the door of the shack where the woman and her aggressor were and set to ensuring her safety while I and my other clone appeared on opposite sides of the cooking fire where five men were seated and eating a meal.

With a broad sweep of both my arms, I successfully decapitated two of the bandits while the third on the far right of my reach attempted to stand, getting high enough out of his seat that my blade, enhanced with wind chakra, didn't separate his head from his shoulder. Instead it carved into the top of his bicep before slicing through the bone with ease as it continued on into his chest before lopping the top inch off of his heart and his left ling before then continuing on to server his spinal cord, his right lung, and then his right arm in a spray of hot blood.

My clone accomplished its job similarly before we each moved to a nearby tent and continued our work, ruthlessly cutting down any bandits we found within. During the...fight...I found two other young women bound, gagged, and crying in a tent by the camp fire. I nodded to them before quickly moving to the next tent and killing the man sleeping inside. There was only one more man in the tens I was checking and he was...indisposed when I found him and subsequently dealt with him.

When there were no more chakra signatures in the area besides my own, my clones, and the three women, I sighed and closed my eyes in a furious mixture of emotions as I fought back the bile climbing up my throat. Before I could start my self recrimination could begin though, I had other things to take care of, namely three traumatized girls.

With a thoughtless motion I created five clones who quickly took away the bodies from around the campfire, looted them, and then burned then with a quick Katon. From there one of the two clones I sent into the shack carried out the teen who had been dragged inside just moments before with her face buried in the clone's shoulder as she sobbed.

 _'How...how could it be that easy? It...it shouldn't be so easy to kill someone...'_ I muttered in relative privacy of my mind, blinking away the tears that I felt trying to force their way into my eyes.

 _ **'Those men made it easy Noriko. If not mentally than at the very least physically,'**_ was Kurama's unexpected response, _**'They were horrible people and quite likely deserved far worse than you gave them. You already knew what they were going to do to those girls, and had likely done to others in the past. Could you really not kill them for attempting to do to those girls that those men did to you?'**_

I mentally snarled in response, letting my three original clones begin tending to the women while the other five continued looting the camp, leaving the shack to me.

My steps were tense as I passed the threshold, stepping over the splintered remains of the door to see the chunin nuke-nin that was my target laying on the floor minus his head. That was sitting in the corner with a perverse leer on its face that made me want to hurl so I quickly sealed it away into an appropriately prepared scroll before I went to work on looting my target.

I found two knives, a couple ryo, and a rather expensive looking dagger that was hidden in his boot. There was a bit more in the shack which I pocketed and sealed away before I went outside, pausing only to torch the building in disgust before turning my attention to the former prisoners. My clones had done good work tending their various injuries and so I sighed and nodded, watching as they dismissed themselves in clouds of smoke after returning the gesture, leaving me alone with the three girls.

All three of them looked fearful at the sudden disappearance of their rescuers, but they shifted their nervous attention to me as I approached, using my approach to keep them from talking while I sorted through my clones' memories. When I was finished I squatted down opposite the three and finally spoke.

"I'm not going to ask if you three are alright. There's no way you are after this experience so instead let me ask, how bad are you three doing?" I asked softly, mentally enjoying having my voice be undamaged even if it wasn't exactly my voice.

"I-I t-think I'm okay," the teen who had been dragged into the shack whispered, "You...your copies arrived before he could...before he could-" Her voice broke off into sobs as I grimaced and tried to decide what to do to help her. It was with a resigned mental sigh that I reached forwards and rested my hand on her head, lacing my fingers into her hair before I replied.

"I know. I know exactly what you mean. I can't tell you that it will ever get better, but it will fade with time and effort. You need to make an effort to get involved with others and be happy. Dwelling on what almost happened will leave you miserable and hurt those that care about you."

Her sobs slowed after a little bit and she eventually met my eyes with her own red and swollen ones as she stuttered out a question.

"Y-you w-were...you w-were r-raped?"

In other circumstances I probably would have slapped her for that question but at the moment I settled for nodding as I closed my eyes and shared just a little of my pain.

"When I was six" I began, catching a flinch at my age from all three women before I continued, "A group of drunks attacked me and raped me. I was saved and the men killed, but only after several had already had a go at me." It physically hurt to keep my voice from cracking as I dredged up the memories of my sixth birthday, a cautioning huff coming from Kurama as he watched through my own senses.

In an instant things changed though as the girl I had been comforting nodded and reached forwards before pulling me into a tight hug. My finely trained reactions nearly had me throwing her off so I could attack, but a second of hesitation allowed me to squash the automatic response as I gently returned her hug, patting her back and somehow enjoying the contact -apparently misery really does love company- as I said, "It'll be alright now though, I'll take you all back to a nearby village so you can find your families."

The girl holding onto me nodded while the other two nodded when I looked at them. With that acknowledgement, I unwrapped myself from the teen hugging me before I stood and pulled her up with me. Carefully, I took a trio of bundles from my cloak as I said, "It won't be enough to make up for this experience at those people's hands, but this is some of what they had. Go ahead and take it, use it to help yourselves out, alright?"

"A-Alright..." The one who had been hugging me said with a nod before taking one of the bundles before the other two took theirs.

"Good now all three of you take my hand, we'll be traveling back to civilization by a ninja method."

There was hesitation there, but they took my hand fairly quickly and without complaint before we vanished in a shunshin, heading for the town I had started this trip at.

* * *

"It's more than enough," I said softly, holding up my right hand to forestall any protests as I tucked away a small pouch of ryo. I was trying desperately not to be greedy and to not insult the village leader as he attempted to reward me for bringing back the girls, the eldest of which was actually his niece.

"But you got rid of-" he began, only for me to interrupt him.

"I did, and I will already receive a reward for killing him. You have already given me a gift, there is no need to give me any more. Knowing that I helped is enough." I said calmly, though I made certain there was a forceful edge to my tone.

He seemed a bit crestfallen at my rejection, but eventually he nodded before asking, "May we at least have your name so we know who it was that helped us?"

 _'Oh for Fuck's sake...'_

 _ **'You walked into this one, Kit,'** _ Kurama laughed in my head while I grimaced behind my mask and wracked my brain for something to tell the leader. I hit upon a valid answer fairly quickly and almost grinned. It would hold with my mask, especially if I ever had to use a summoning.

"I go by Ryuukoe (Dragon's Voice). I hope that will be enough." I answered.

There was a raised eyebrow in response, but the old man let it pass with a nod before I thanked him again for the reward and then vanished in a swirl of shunshin.

* * *

Returning to the village presented me with a new issue; getting in. On the way out I had the convenient cover of the merchant caravan. Now, not so much.

So after going over a number of possibilities in my head and with Kurama, I settled for just maintaining my identity as Ryuukoe and going in to redeemed the bounty at the ANBU post in the Hokage's tower, which offered me an easy way to change back into myself. Without a gesture, I made and dismissed a shadow clone, instantly relaying my plan to my Chikage Bushin who I knew would quickly be separating from whatever it was doing before setting a leisurely path to the Hokage Tower.

Satisfied with that, I finally approached the gates, nodding to the Uchiha police on duty before coming to a halt at a raised hand from one of them behind a desk.

"Purpose of visiting the village?" He asked in a rather bored tone.

"Claiming a bounty."

"Whose?"

"Ex-chunin Sahashi Midori from Iwa."

Surprisingly, that got looks of interest from the policeman who nodded before he gestured to the form on the table in front if him, "Sign here and head to the Hokage tower, the ANBU post will verify and pay the bounty."

"Thank you," I replied calmly, signing 'Ryuukoe' on the form and taking in the Uchiha's raised eyebrow before I shrugged and headed into the village and towards the tower.

* * *

Turning in the bounty was surprisingly easy and clean, simply hand over the proof, let them verify it, then accept a large envelope of cash, in this case fifteen thousand ryo. Nodding my thanks to the ANBU on duty, I then asked directions to the restroom and my way inside to find my clone quickly waiting for me.

Nodding, I disrobed and sealed away my outfit before donning my usual clothes while my Chikage Bushin transformed into an exact copy of Ryuukoe before she left and headed out of the village while I made actual use of the facilities before using Shinshin to return to my apartment. A quick summon and dismissal of a clone let my Chikage Bushin know to dismiss itself as soon as things were safe.

When the rush of memories arrived an hour later I sighed and grabbed a shower before laying down to go over all the information my Bushin had collected over my absence.

* * *

Well there's chapter seven! Really going out and becoming a bounty hunter was a spur of the moment thing that will become both a plot point and an entertainment factor in later chapters.

Also, here's a review of Noriko's current skills and potential:

Ninjutsu: 4.5( **5** )  
Taijutsu: 3( **3.5** )  
Genjutsu: 1( **1** )  
Intelligence: 4.5( **5** )  
Strength: 3.5( **4** )  
Speed: 3.5( **4** )  
Stamina: 3.5( **4** )  
Hand Seals: 2.5( **3** )  
Fūinjutsu: 3.5( **4.5** )

Total: 29.5( **34** )

As you can see, Noriko's actual capabilities are catching up quickly to what there maximums would be had she been raised with proper attention like a clan child. Genjutsu is going to be her main weakness until she either becomes a genin and gets regular opponents to practice on, or that she finally breaks down and starts trying them out on the villagers for being dicks. Once she has her first tail some of her stats are quite literally going to fly off the charts.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Well here's the next chapter where we get to see Noriko make her first noticeable change to the timeline by saving someone who had otherwise died. There's a bit more information about her work as Ryuukoe, but of more note is that we get a look at the inner workings of her mind from which we can see that not everything is sunshine and roses, especially with the growth of her first tail getting closer and closer which means that her demonic side is showing more and more, even if not outwardly.

Also, 94 reviews, 276 favorites, 371 follows, and 13,026 hits. I have to say I'm quite happy with that, so thank you to you my readers, I look forwards to your comments and criticisms of this story in the future.

* * *

September came all too soon for my tastes and with it was the next hurdle in my efforts to improve the situation; The Uchiha Massacre.

I had curtailed my bounty hunting just before the start of the month, though I kept a single collected target with me at all times to ensure that I could carry out my plans without issue. This was because I wouldn't be able to simply explain away Ryuukoe's presence so close to Konoha without a bounty that needed to turned in.

Ryuukoe. Dear Kami...if my persona wasn't an open can of worms than nothing was. Since I had created her a few months before, I had personally killed thirty-nine people. Of that number, nine had been C-rank nuke-nin and four had been B-ranks. The rest of their number had been bandits associating with the wanted ninja. That collection rate had garnered me some rather unwelcome observers anytime I was within about a dozen miles of Konoha in the form of ANBU teams. On my most recent trip out I had actually been confronted by ANBU Inu, who I had known full well was Kakashi.

 _-Flashback Start-_

 _I was instantly expecting a fight when the cloaked ANBU dropped out of the trees ahead of me and brought my travels to a stop, his three fellow ANBU had dropped in around me, one left, one right, and one behind me. As I carefully rested my hands on my twin katanas in preparation for battle, whether I'd win of not, I was surprised to see Inu take out a small black book and toss it to me._

 _Catching it before checking for traps within the pages, I looked to Inu through my Dragon mask as I asked, "What is this?"_

 _"It's a person of interest book. It's similar to a bingo book, but it also lists suspicious people that Konoha has taken note of, including yourself," he replied_

 _"And you're giving it to me why?" I asked cautiously, though with clear skepticism._

 _"Your success rate in the time since you began bringing in bounties to Konoha has been...exceptional. Enough so that the Hokage himself as well as other figures have taken note of your presence, Ryuukoe. While you are not a nin of Konoha, Hokage-sama has seen fit to have you given this book. Should you happen across any relevant information about those within these pages, we would be...appreciative to receive it."_

 _I was stunned. A few bounties collected and they wanted me working as some sort of off the records agent?! That...really wasn't reassuring. If what I had done was enough to gain the interest and some measure of respect from the ANBU offices then I was going to have be a hell of a lot more careful, especially entering the village. Though it did give me an idea...but that was for later._

 _"...I'll consider it," I decided to eventually reply after a few moment's pause, "Though this is not a promise. If possible I would prefer to live without involving myself with any of the villages too much, ANBU-san. It would make my work more...problematic when I start going to other countries for targets."_

 _"That was expected, as such you are not being asked for anything of the sort, merely that you report anything of interest to us. You will of course be paid depending on what you bring in."_

 _I couldn't stop a grimace behind my mask._ 'This was exactly what I needed right now,' _I drawled sarcastically._

 **'Quit being a pussy Noriko, this means better information and better information means that we can plan better.'** _Kurama snorted in reply._

'Hai, hai...'

 _"Fine, I'll be on the look out, but don't expect anything beyond my usual bounties. I won't be going out of my way for this for now.' I replied with resignation, 'Now shoo, I have miles to go before I make camp and you're slowing me down." I punctuated that reply by making a shooing motion with both hands._

 _I was certain that Kakashi was raising an eyebrow behind his mask but he settled for nodding and disappearing via shunshin, followed by his brethren._

 _I waited just long enough to be sure they were gone from my range before I darted forwards, making another three miles of progress before I disappeared in a flash of red._

 _-Flashback End-_

That book had certainly proven to be a gold mine of information, but none of it was immediately useful to my plans unfortunately. It was these plans that lead me to my current situation though. With a Blood Clone holding down the fort in Konoha for the moment, I was camped alongside the Naka river a few miles downstream from the waterfall and I had been there since the first of the month. What I was waiting for was the confrontation between Itachi and Shisui. Out of all my encounters with the Uchiha of the village, there were only four that I held any measure of care or respect for: Itachi, Shisui, Mikoto, and Kagami.

As such I was now poised to save at least one of those people if at all possible, and it seemed like the time had finally come.

Above the waterfall where I waited, I could feel Shisui's pitifully weak and quiet chakra signature alongside Itachi's tumultuous, regretful, and saddened signature. It honestly made my chest ache to feel someone I had come to care about and respect so much in such emotional distress, but I waited, continuing to watch and listen for my chance, and there it was.

I watched as a figure tipped over the edge, his signature pitifully weak as he fell. When he was close enough, I leapt from my spot and caught him, carefully suppressing and hiding both of our signatures the instant I made contact before bolting towards my camp where a fully rested blood clone and the proper supplies awaited Shisui and I.

* * *

The first five minutes after I arrived back at camp were frantic. As quickly, and carefully as possible, my clone and I put tight bandages and tourniquets to stop the bleeding from Shisui's wounds before we set about repairs the damage with the Mystical Palm jutsu and several other iryojutsus. The quick treatment was enough that we slowed the fading of Shisui's chakra signature and eventually stabilized it

From there it was a matter of closing the injuries and then releasing the tourniquets and pressure bandages to restore blood flow to his body. That left the injured Uchiha suffering from nothing but his missing eyes, to deal with that I would need more than just the aid of my clone.

 _'Are you ready for this? I'm not doubting you, but I want everything to be as close to perfect as possible Kurama.'_

 _ **'I'm ready Kit, and with the training you got from the dragons, this should be enough to do what you're asking.'**_

 _'Alright...'_ I replied, taking a big breath as I called on my collected natural energy before I shouted, "Here we go!"

Flying through a dozen hand seals, I placed my hands over the unconscious Shisui's eyes as I announced my jutsu.

"Senpou: Iryojutsu: Sou Fukugen!" (Sage Art: Medical Art: Total Restoration)

Instantly a sunny, golden glow surrounded my hands and funneled down into Shisui's empty eye sockets. As he began to stir, my clone quickly pulled a syringe from a med pack and injected it into the teen's arm, settling him back down as the sedative took effect.

I wasn't sure how long as was there, maintaining my jutsu, but night fell and the moon rose into the clear night air. The only thing that ever interrupted my constant work was the occasional clone popping to restore my levels of natural energy. I purposefully hadn't gathered to much as I didn't have anything approaching mastery of the art after only two months of training under the dragons, but I could wield it skillfully enough that I could use the golden, purified chakra of the ninetails sage mode.

It did prove to be enough, thankfully. For as the sun began to creep over the horizon, I fell backwards to sprawl out on the clear ground of my camp with a sigh. With Kurama tending to restoring my body, I was able to sit up and inspect my work.

Shisui's eyes were fully restored beneath his closed eyelids and all of his other wounds were long since healed. So he was back into perfect condition, pending his ability to use his eyes...though I had a feeling I was going to get a bit of a yelling at for what else I had done to Shisui.

His formerly black hair was now now a light gray, matching my own in my guise of Ryuukoe, and more significantly, his once black eyes were now yellow gold with draconic slit pupils like my own. I had done this to both help Shisui, and for a selfish reason, but those were for later when he was awake enough to speak with me.

Satisfied, I headed over to the fire where my clone had kindly prepared a very large and hearty breakfast which I devoured enthusiastically before unrolling a bed roll and quickly going to sleep.

* * *

"Boss, he's waking up, time for you to get to work."

Grumbling, I peeled open my eyes to rapidly blink as bright sunlight streamed against my pupils and made me hiss in pain before replying, "Yeah, yeah...now go ahead and pop you ass."

For some reason my clone grinned impishly before vanishing in a burst of smoke, leaving just enough time for me to blink in surprise before groaning as two weeks of memories and a massive headache slammed into me.

"Fucking cheeky ass clones," I muttered as I sat up, taking note of a covered pot of food resting over the coals of the fire along with a stirring Uchiha Shisui.

Knowing I couldn't stop the inevitable, I got up and walked over Shisui before sitting beside him and taking out a canteen as I waited for him to wake. True to my clone's predictions, it was only a few minutes later that Shisui's eyes shot wide open, actually surprising me with just how bright and vivid they were.

When his breathing and heart rate rapidly skyrocketed, I quickly set a hand on his shoulder and did my best to calm him as I said, "Please calm down Shisui-san. I have healed you, but I do not know if there are any other lingering effects."

Is eyes bolted to my uncovered face, making my mentally slap myself for not having out on my mask. On second thought this really was better given what I was planning to ask him to do.

"W-Who..." He began only to grimace and swallow before I pushed a canteen gently against his lips, lifting his back with my other hand to make it a bit easier. He drank gratefully for several moments before he sighed and I lowered him to his back again.

"Thank you, now please tell me who you are," he said softly.

Nodding, I gave a slim smile as I answered, "You likely know my already, but not without my mask. My name is Ryuukoe. Before we go any further though, I would like you to try activating your Sharingan."

"My Sharingan..." He muttered before he suddenly started with surprise, quickly attempting to sit up only for me to push him back down as he looked at me with the same wide eyes from when he woke to ask, "I can see...but, but how? Did you transplant new eyes into me?"

I shook my head firmly and responded as patiently as I could, "No, I regrew your eyes with a special jutsu that makes use of my unique chakra. While I did so, and tended to your other injuries, I need to tell you that I changed your appearance a bit because there are things that are going to be happening that I'll need your help to stop."

Shisui watched me warily for several second, his new slit pupils giving him a rather intimidating glare as he watched me before closing his eyes with a small smile and shaking his head.

"Well you saved my life, so I suppose listening to you is the least I can do."

I quirked my own lips just a little before I began to speak.

"While I was able to save you, I unfortunately am not able to stop the massacre of your clan for the coup they are planning."

He made to interrupt but I raised my hand to stop him before I continued, "I will save those that I can, but unfortunately too many coming events rely on your clan being killed for me to prevent it, and that is to say nothing of the perpetrators being too powerful for me or even the Hokage to stop at the current time. Now please try to activate your eyes, I would like to know if my efforts were in vain or not.

That information caught Shisui's attention for absolutely certain. A for to strong for the Hokage? Yeah he was obviously concerned now. Thankfully he did do as I asked and activated his eyes, only for my breath to catch as a red and black design spun into existence in his eyes.

"So they work I take it?" He asked with an slightly amused grin.

"Yes, though it seems I did better than just regrowing them," I replied, taking in the changes to the previously shuriken patterned eyes, "It seems that getting new eyes, even if they were your own and just regrown was enough to move you on to the next stage of the Sharingan."

"The next stage?"

I nodded numbly before I began to explain this unexpected development. "Normally the Sharingan develops up to having three tomoe in each eye. However if certain circumstances are met, usually extreme guilt for an action or a failure, a Sharingan can evolve into the next stage, the Mangekyou Sharingan which you had already possessed when your eyes were removed."

"I get that now keep going."

Inarrowed my eyes slightly and frowned at that reply before sighing and shaking my head as I said, "Use of the abilities possessed by a Mangekyou Sharingan causes one's vision to degrade with each use until the user goes blind, permanently sealing their eyes. The only cure for this, before now, was to take the Sharingan eyes of a close relative and have them transplanted. This would advance the eyes to the next stage, the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan."

Now he was really paying attention I noted as I paused for a breath.

"In this stage, the vision of the user is permanently restored and even drastically improved. Beyond that restoration of sight, the owner of the eyes also gains dramatically increased and potentially new Sharingan abilities. You already possessed Susanoo and Kotoamatsuki with the regular Mangekyou Sharingan. Now those abilities will be drastically improved but there is also the chance that you will awaken other abilities now as well but I don't know to be honest."

I sighed and ran a hand through my transformed hair as Shisui gave me an expectant look before I continued.

"The abilities that you could develop include the genjutsu Tsukiyomi, the katon Amaterasu, the jikuukan Kamui. You already have access to the ability Izanagi, which will let you permanently sacrifice an eye in order to survive a killing blow. I don't know if the ten year restriction of the Kotoamatsuki still applies or if you gained any of those techniques I named so once I send you on your way I suggest you experiment a bit, though be extremely discreet."

"How...just how do you know all of that? How do you know any of that?!" Shisui demanded suddenly as he got to his feet, fists balled in anger.

I sighed mentally before raising my hands in a scathing gesture as I said, "Please turn off your eyes Shisui, rashness will not help anyone right now expect our enemies."

His eyes narrowed as he watched me for several moments before he sighed in either defeat of acceptance and so I reluctantly breathed a sigh of my own, only of relief when I saw his eyes change back to slotted yellow.

"Alright, first thing is that right now, I can't tell you how I know these things. I honestly can't. Far too much depends on you not charging off to challenge opponents their are currently far beyond our reach and have plans of their own in place right now to deal with any interruptions we could make. Do you understand that?" I asked.

There was hesitation but Shisui nodded and replied, "I will accept that you can't tell me everything now, but at least tell me who this enemy is."

I gave a full on grimace and bit my lower lip before I sullenly answered in a low voice, "Uchiha Madara."

Instantly Shisui's eyes widened to an impossible degree -which seemed to be starting to become a regular occurrence much to my amusement- and he let out a single whisper.

"...Impossible..."

"Unfortunately not. Uchiha Madara is alive and well and plotting against not just Konoha, but the entire world, Shisui-san. That is why we must be extremely careful with our actions right now."

He seemed to play over my words before giving a sullen nod as he rested his face in his hands at which point I mentally thanked Kami for his cooperation as he gave me his next question.

"You said you can't tell me now, so when can you tell me everything?"

"That is something I can answer fortunately. In about five years, the year that Sasuke will graduate from the Academy, the Chunin Exams will be held in Konoha. I'll remind you before hand so you won't forget and I'll also ask you to be there for at least the final round. Once they're over, I will tell you everything about what's going on, a few others well most likely."

"Fine. Now, from what you just said, you expect me not to be in Konoha, why?"

"I expect you not to be in Konoha much if at all until then because if Uchiha Shisui returns alive, Danzo will either attempt to kill you to keep his secret or Madara will come looking to kill you and potentially claim your eyes. What you'll be doing in the mean time is playing the role of a bounty hunter and becoming as strong as absolutely powerful in every possible field, because you will absolutely be needed come those exams."

"So a bounty hunter...anything else?" He replied, a touch of amusement returning to his voice.

"A few things yes. One you'll be posing as my younger brother. Because you don't have the reserves to use much less maintain a physical transformation, I had to make the changes genetic while I was healing you."

"Changes? What changes?" He asked, now more worried than anything.

An amused, mischievous smile crossed my lips before I withdrew a small hand mirror from a pocket and tossed it to him. It was with a great deal of humor and satisfaction that I watched his face morph into an expression of complete and utter shock before he finally began taking a closer look at himself. He made various expressions to see how they looked before he sighed heavily and hung his head in defeat before tossing the mirror back at me as he looked up to mock eyes with me.

"Dear Kami-sama...if you were gonna mess with my face you could have at least made me more handsome, Nee-chan."

I paused and actually failed to catch the mirror which bounced off the armor on my chest before I closed my eyes and snorted as I started to laugh. "Everything that's happening, and that's what you choose to complain about?" I asked between laughs.

"Ha ha ha," Shisui drawled sarcastically, "But given I can't do anything about the rest of it right now, it is what I'll complain about. Now if I'm your otouto, I'll expect you to have a name picked out for me to use."

My laughter faded to little bouts of giggles as I hid my grin behind my hands as I replied, "Yeah I was thinking something rather impressive and sorta indicative like Ryuugen (Dragon's Illusion)."

"Ryuugen...I suppose that's not too bad. Now is there anything else I should know before I head out to start my new life?" He asked.

"Yeah, a few things. First, go where you want for the most part but be careful in rice as that's where I understand Orochimaru is hanging around and potentially setting up shop. Besides that, never, ever, ever go to Rain. The rain that's always falling there is actually a sensor jutsu that manipulates the natural weather there so that they know the instant someone passes their borders. Besides that charming knowledge, Rain is also where Madara is headquartered, hiding out as part of the group known as Akatsuki. If you absolutely have to have action beyond bounty hunting, head to Kiri and join the rebels. The Mizukage, a man maned Yagura, is attempting to purge the bloodline users there. To make the situation even more dangerous though, the Mizukage is also the Jinchurriki of the Sanbi and under Madara's control to boot. So keep a low profile there if you can. We do not want Akatsuki's attention in the least."

Shisui nodded thoughtfully, closing his eyes before he asked, "Do we have a backstory?"

I nodded with a grin before I began to explain the backstory for our impromptu family. Explaining our origin, how we were trained and by whom, everything he would need to explain himself away.

Once I was done I unsealed a large package and set it before him.

"Ryuugen, in here are about two weeks of basic supplies in sealing scrolls along with several jutsu scrolls that you should be able to make use of. In addition to that is several sets if clothes and two sets of armor like my own along with a good variety of weapons," I told him, watching as he began to open it up and explore the contents, I sighed and did the last part that I needed to. Reaching out before he could react, I placed my right hand palm down on his sternum before I created the necessary seal, making sure to settle it in and attack to his system.

As soon as that was done, he grabbed my hand and pushed it to the side, knocking me backwards as he crouched over me and placed a kunai from his supplies against my neck.

"What the fuck was that?" He demanded in a hiss.

Outwardly keeping myself calm I opened my mouth slowly and uttered the one word answer.

"Hiraishin."

With that I vanished from beneath him in a flash of red to reappear, standing beside Shisui as he whirled into a crouch facing me.

"How the hell did you do that?! The last person to use the Hiraishin was the Yondaime!" he demanded.

"I'm a seal master, and a damn good one at that," I replied carefully, looking down to meet Shisui's active Sharingan. "With enough examples of the Yondaime's work, namely the remaining copies of his kunai, I was able to recreate the technique. Now it's time for me to get a move on, I need to prepare to act as soon as Itachi and Madara leave Konoha. I've put a set of seals around this camp to keep you hidden for the next week. By then you'll either need to get a move on or deal with ANBU finding you. If you are ever in mortal danger, channel chakra to the Hiraishin seal on your chest and I'll either come to you or summon you to me, alright, Ryuugen?"

Shisui stared hard at me for several seconds before nodding and closing his eyes to deactivate the Sharingan. "I'll see you when I see you then I suppose."

I flashed the former Uchiha a small grin before I replied, "You'll see me often enough. After all I need to be sure that my little otouto is alright."

"Right, now get out of here," Shisui shot back with a rueful grin.

"Hai, hai..." I replied before packing up what I was taking with me, leaving the rest there for Shisui before I disappeared in a flash of red and reappeared back in the main underground chamber of my hideout.

* * *

After exchanging my exterior persona to become Uzumaki Noriko, I sighed and settled myself in to begin going over what all I had left to do. I truly couldn't move on the compound until Itachi and Obito had truly left the village after the massacre, which meant my chances of saving Mikoto and Kagami were extremely slim, especially the former of the two.

Even if Mikoto was once of the last to be attacked, the fact of the matter was that thanks to Itachi hanging around to fuck with Sasuke's mind I couldn't deliver immediate aid to her much like I wouldn't be able to help Kagami either. For that reason I had put together yet another seal which had almost taken too much time, having been finished up just after I had returned from saving Shisui.

What I had put together was a stasis seal in essence. It would freeze the object it was applied to in time which would keep it from degrading, or in this case dying. What had made it so difficult was that I had gotten the inspiration from long-service storage scrolls that could preserve their contents for decades. This was an issue because the target in question was stored inside a pocket space, and that tended to do bad things to living creatures.

I should know. After all I attempted such an endeavor.

Those poor squirrels...

From the basis of that scroll though, I had been forced to parse the original seal in order to separate the space element of it so that I could still interact with those it was applied to and in this case heal them.

Was it petty that I was only looking only to save a few people out of that entire clan?

Extremely so, but after several hours sorting through my thoughts and speaking with Kurama I had accepted that and from there reached a conclusion about myself.

Simply put, I was not a good person.

I made and effort to be kind. I made an effort to be nice. I made even a small effort to look beyond the surface of the villagers' douche-baggery. But I was petty. I was cruel. I was willing to stand aside in regards to nearly an entire clan and let them be slaughtered because I hated them for what a few members had done to me and and what their police force had let happen to me all through my new life.

I wasn't sure why though.

It was from that line of thought I had concluded I was not a good person. Even my efforts to save Shisui and others were selfish. I wanted Shisui because he would be an extremely powerful ally. Mikoto would help temper Sasuke's shitty personality, at least I hoped she would. Kagami was an excellent man and was one of the few to be kind to me and even helped me. I would repay that debt.

The majority of their clan over age ten or so were assholes though, so I was just...okay with letting them die. Everyone younger I suppose I was willing to give a chance. That was why I had set up nearly two hundred clones in the Uchiha compound over the last week to watch them and prepare.

They were to utilize their own judgement to determine if someone was worth saving. And if they were, then my clones would apply a stasis seal to them. If they weren't then they wouldn't and would instead assist in going through the Uchiha's hidden library in the meantime.

After they were gone though, Ryuukoe would swoop in having been on her way to deliver a bounty and then miraculously save the designated Uchiha with her sage arts, meager though they were. It would be a boon to her relationship with Konoha, and better still, the ones that didn't survive would simply be said to have not been viable to work on due to needing to triage the wounded or because they just would have died before she could get to them.

As such I would come out ahead on all fronts.

It was sickening to rationalize what I was going to do and it left me feeling terrible, at first. The knowledge that they, as a clan, were planning a coup provided some moral reinforcement behind my own reasons but it was still selfish and I eventually accepted that fact.

For the changes in my thought pattern I could only guess that becoming a Hanyou was having more of an effect on me than I had initially realized beyond the physical changes. That was certainly concerning, and I made a mental note to speak to Kurama-tousan when I had the chance after this.

It doesn't change the fact that I'm not a good person though.

Because in truth I'm a terrible person. May Kami-sama forgive me because I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for what I'm doing to ensure my own survival.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So yeah...Noriko's mindset, extreme pragmatism with the end goal of survival, is starting to get a bit twisted by how she's changing from becoming a hanyou and the life she's been stuck living in Konohagakure. There's a touch of evidence in this chapter that shows how deeply the rape affected her psyche. Now, let me go ahead and answer some questions people have asked.

 **AiraFox:** Semtex is the chosen explosive because it is extremely stable and capable of functioning at a wider range of temperatures tahn most other plastic explosives.

 **idea getthe:** The reason for Ryuukoe over a different name is because For all intents and purposes, Noriko is the dragon's voice in the human world. As their realm is separate from the other summon realms, the only way for them to pass on messages is through her. hence Dragon's Voice.

 **Ilat-2:** She already is.

 **Reishin Amara:** Oh definitely, should Zabuzua not survive the wave mission she will be taking Kubikiribouchou. Along with the Kiba blades when they deal with Ringo and Raijin from Aoi if she hadn't already taken it before then while fighting as Ryuukoe.

 **xbox432:** Emberstoke is from the MLP fanfic " _Sharing the Night_ " on fimfiction.

 **denis.d2505:** You may but unfortunately, you won't get an answer right now. I'm revealing them little by little as the story goes on. The bulk of them will show up when she gets her first tail in two or three chapters, but they'll come up soon enough. As for dragons hoarding things, according to myth they enjoy word games and hoard three things: gold/precious things, knowledge, and power. So Noriko's offer, a whole realm of advanced knowledge from another world is quite the tempting offer.

 **Azaira:** Don't worry, Guns will not be showing up mainly due to the fact that the means to make any weapons that would be useful against shinobi simply aren't available. What we will see is things like grenades, claymore mines, and explosive charges. The reason for those over exploding tags is that tags tend to have a few second delay before activation along with a distinct hissing sound. Mines just have a click before they explode, can't be stopped by stepping on them, contain shrapnel, and also can't be stopped by something like Samehada.

Now, that's all for now, so…

Ja ne!


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: the massacre is short and to the point in this chapter. Noriko comes out with a story to explain her knowledge and to ensure that Hiruzen listens when she gives him warnings.

I will be answering reviews and pertinent PMs at the end of chapter 10.

* * *

It took three days of waiting from when I rescued Shisui before Itachi and Obito. I had quietly sneaked out of the village before returning as Ryuukoe with my latest bounty, informing the gate guards that I would be also stopping over for a few days of rest in the village before heading out again. There weren't any questions, I had taken such breaks before and I was regular enough of a sight that no one really batted an eyelash at my presence.

Now though things were changing.

Sitting atop a quiet apartment building, I meditated and let my ability to sense the chakra presences in the village sharpen significantly. I could feel the movement of the ANBU patrols, and the average civilians asleep in their beds. The Uchiha compound though was abuzz with activity. I felt how a number of the clan members' chakra flared briefly before dying out, snuffed out like little candles in the wind.

Despite my resolve to see this out the way I intended to, it still left me uneasy as I felt them die. Panic, anger, fear, betrayal, and a host of other emotions colored their chakra as they died.

It was dressing really. Still, I waited, absorbing what natural energy I could in my meditation and tracking Obito and Itachi through the compound. I watched through their signatures as Itachi confronted his parents and struck them down -the clone ant on Mikoto's calf quickly applying the stasis seal- before he proceeded to brain rape Sasuke, and act that made me wince in some sort of sympathy despite my dislike of the kid.

There was an unexpected complication though, the hidden library while extensive, wasn't exactly large meaning that only so many of my clones could get in there at a time. That was an issue because I wasn't stealing the scrolls, but rather having the clones read them, memorize them, and then move on.

Thus occupied, I created and dispelled a single clone, passing orders to the ones that couldn't fit in the library. These clones quickly set to destroying the eyes on all of the Uchiha they could find including the ones that had been saved. Those ones would get their eyesight back, either tonight or over the next few days if my estimation of the Hokage's desire to keep a lid on what happened so speak proved true. If someone like me was there and capable of restoring eyesight, I fully expected that I would be co-opted into helping heal them at the hospital.

I was ready though when I felt Itachi and Obito vanish, likely disappearing into a Kamui to go where-the-fuck-ever and finally giving my an opportunity to act. Opening my sage altered eyes, I vanished from the roof top with a shunshin to reappear in the Uchiha main house, just beside Mikoto's, Sasuke's and Fugaku's probe forms. Not wasting any time, I quickly knelt by Mikoto's side, taking in her slashed eyes and noting that the clone which had done so had already healed some of her wounds and stopped the bleeding even with the stasis seal.

As I took in her condition, I noted the good news, her eyes were still reasonably in one piece meaning that healing them would go much faster than regrowing Shisui's had.

"Senpo: Iryojutsu: Sou Fukugen!"

With that, I got to literally watch as Mikoto's eyes healed before my own and the stab wound through her heart closed and disappeared without a mark. It was brief, maybe thirty or forty seconds of effort given that I was pouring in considerably more chakra than I had with Shisui before I ended the jutsu and stood, using shunshin to quickly reach Kagami and repeat the process.

With my two primary goals out of the way, I felt out the remainder of my stasis seals and frowned slightly when I only detected two.

Did my clones, and by extension me, really only find two kids worth saving in the whole damn clan?

Now wasn't the time for that sort of thinking though, so I quickly shook my head and banished the thoughts before flickering to the first child who had a stab through the heart from behind. I dealt with that and the little girl's eyes and moved to the other body in the room, a child of about four years old who had been pinned under the girl that I guessed was his sister.

It was with my hands glowing gold as I attempted to heal the child that ANBU finally found me when they arrived.

"Step away from the child," a far too familiar voice called out from behind me.

Mentally banging my head in frustration at having been found so quickly, I spoke up in reply to the ANBU behind me, all of whom likely had weapons drawn.

"Inu-san," I said calmly if a bit tiredly, "I am in the middle of healing this child. If you want him to die then I will step away."

There was shocked silence for a moment before Kakashi replied, "Very well when you are finished, stand and move away, Ryuukoe-san. We will need to take you into custody at the very least to get your statement, so please come peacefully."

"Hai, I will do so shortly."

* * *

Once I had finished healing the boy, with ANBU then taking him, his sister, Kagami, and Mikoto along with Sasuke to the hospital, I found myself deep down within the comfy confines of Konoha's T&I chambers, seated across from a rather grumpy and unhappy Morino Ibiki.

I was honestly worried. Out of everything I had planned on, I had actually forgotten that I would have to come here to tell them what had happened.

It was a rather remarkable failure on my part.

So in my current situation, I locked my yellow-gold, slitted pupil eyes with Ibiki's. I was uncomfortably unarmed, having almost been stripped to take every weapon and item in my possession for safety, including my mask.

Indeed, the only reason I hadn't been stripped I suspected was that I was reliable and helpful to Konoha.

The lack of mask obscuring my face left me rather a touch uncomfortable though as the head of T&I let me sit and stew. It was a contest of wills and I was determined to, if not win, then at least give a good showing.

So it was surprising when only fifteen minutes in, Morino Ibiki sighed and rubbed his temples as he started to speak.

"For the record, you have not been charged with any crime. That said, we need a full statement from you, and should we believe that you are withholding vital information, we will be forced to inspect your memories or submit you less delicate methods, understood?"

"I understand fully Morino-san. I will answer your questions as completely and truthfully as I am able."

There was a brief pause as Ibiki gave me what I took as a skeptically raised eyebrow before he briefly coughed and continued.

"Name?"

"Ryuukoe."

"That is your full name? Not just a name you took on for bounty hunting?"

"It is. My father's bloodline and ancestry requires that we bear a single name with the word Ryuu in it. My younger brother is named Ryuugen. My father was Ryuujin."

"...I see, and where are you and your family from?"

"We originate in Kiri where we kept to ourselves where possible except when it was decided that a family member was at an acceptable age and maturity to find a spouse whereupon we would visit towns and cities to find an appropriate person."

"Are you on such a...journey at the moment?"

"No. With the deaths of everyone else in our family, my brother and I have gone on our own separate ways into the world in an effort to find somewhere to settle down and preserve our line."

"What happened to your family?"

"There were six of us originally, however on a day when my otouto and I had been sent hunting, a group of the Mizukage's loyalists attacked our home and killed our father, mother, grandfather, and aunt."

"Why did the Mizukage attack your family?"

"You mean Konoha doesn't already know?"

"Know what?" Ibiki growled.

I raised my hands in a placating gesture.

"Please be calm, Morino-san, I meant no disrespect. I only meant to confirm that you did not know Kiri's state."

"We don't so get on with it."

I shot the man a slightly annoyed look before I replied, "Currently, the Mizukage is attempting to eradicate all of the bloodline users in Kiri, and afterward should he succeed, the elemental nations. A rebellion had already begun when I left under the leadership of a woman I believe is named Mei Terumi. They are trying to overthrow the Mizukage and Sanbi Jinchurriki Yagura. Already I last heard that the Kaguya and Yuki clans had been wiped out completely."

That information seemed to leave Ibiki floored for a moment before he grimaced and resumed questioning me.

"What were you here in Konoha for?"

"I was here to turn in a bounty, restock supplies, and rest for a few days, maybe even a week."

"Why were you in the Uchiha compound?"

My mouth was a touch dry and I swallowed as I spoke up, my tone a bit sullen. "I...I felt them dying. I am a fairly accomplished sensor and as such I felt the emotional and physical flares of their chakra before it began disappearing. Once I realized what was going on I used shunshin to reach the last people I had felt become wounded, a woman and a man in a home. The man was beyond saving, however, the woman who I guess is his wife was able to survive long enough for me to heal her and restore her slashed eyes. An older man along with the two children I was found healing were also able to survive until I could heal them. By the time your ANBU arrived, I could feel no other survivors. As such I complied and allowed them to bring me here."

Ibiki was silent for several moments as he wrote down my responses and Kami knew what else before he stood from his chair and nodded to me.

"Thank you for your help, Ryuukoe-san. ANBU will take you back to where you were staying and you are free to go. Just be aware that you may receive a request to return to answer more questions."

I bowed my head I response. For all his intimidation, it seemed that Ibiki was capable of being genuinely polite when he wanted to.

It just didn't happen very often.

* * *

I waited until news of the massacre had thoroughly spread through the village before I moved on with the next stage of my plan; getting the Hokage's support.

Kurama-tousan and I had worked long and hard to prepare for this, editing together the memories of the appropriate Naruto episodes in order to put together a convincing front that what I had seen was a vision of some sort.

Prophesies happened in the ninja world and so did oracles, like the princess-priestess from demon country.

It was that kind of relatively common knowledge that I was counting on as I carefully pushed open the door to Hiruzen's office, making sure to put on a more timid front than usual until Inu gave me a small push from behind and shoved me into the room. I immediately shot Kakashi a glare over my shoulder, certain he was smirking at me beneath his masks before I faced forward and met the gaze of the Hokage.

"Is something the matter, Noriko-chan?" He asked calmly, though with clear concern, and for good reason as my current behavior was quite out of character for me.

"Umm, I don't...know?" I answered in a rather meek tone.

He sighed briefly before he motioned me forwards.

"Have a seat Noriko-chan and tell me what's bothering you, please."

I did just that, genuinely shifting uncomfortably in the seat before I asked, "Jiji...Did...Did Weasel-nii really try and kill his clan?"

Instantly Hiruzen's countenance darkened and he seemed to age before very eyes as he took a long pull of his pipe and closed his eyes before nodding and answering.

"I'm afraid that he did, Noriko-chan."

I couldn't help a grimace as I said the words that were going to get this on to the next stage, letting my head hang down and my red bangs cover my eyes as I whispered, "I should have said something..."

As expected, even with his advanced age, Hiruzen caught what I said. "Noriko-chan, there's no way you could have known what was going to happen. You can't blame yourself for something like this."

"But I did! I did know he was gonna hurt them!" I suddenly shouted back, my own hurt and worry for Itachi helping push tears from my eyes before I froze at the sight of the Hokage's suddenly icy face.

"Explain Noriko-chan. How did you know?" There was a solid edge of steel in his voice that brooked no argument and made me shrink back in my seat.

"Could we talk privately?" I asked softly, looking nervously at the ANBU around us, my chakra already suffusing the room to look for anyone hidden.

"Very well, ANBU, leave us."

The agents did as directed, though not without a few glances, and left with bows and shunshin before closing the door behind them as I sighed softly in relief at being alone.

"Now explain Noriko-chan. If you knew he was going to do this I need to know how you learned of it."

I was silent for a moment before I muttered out a single word.

"Dreams."

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed dangerously, and surprisingly a small flicker of killing intent focused on me making me gasp a bit before I continued speaking.

"Until it happened I kept having nightmares Jiji. I kept seeing Weasel-nii and the weird guy in an orange mask hurting everyone!" I blabbed, finding the killing intent and the intense scrutiny to be too much to maintain a front.

"You were seeing it in a dream?"

I nodded jerkily, watching the Hokage with wide eyes, watching as he sat back in his chair and stroked his chin a bit.

"Noriko-chan. You know what the Yamanaka clan specializes in, correct?"

I nodded, already seeing where things were going, and secretly approving.

"Would you be willing to let one see the nightmare you were having?"

I grimaced at the idea of reliving that scene Kurama and I had put together while hiding everything else behind the safety of his cage.

Still I nodded.

"Very well."

With a quick summon for ANBU, Owl was sent racing off to fetch Yamanaka Inoichi.

* * *

I inhaled deeply out of reflex as the man before me removed his hands from my temples, letting me reach up to freely massage them and ease the pain from having someone dig around in my mind.

When I finally turned my attention to the blonde opposite me, I took in his almost incredulous and...seemingly awed expression with a note of unease on my part.

"What's your opinion, Inoichi? Is it real or not?" Hiruzen asked, bringing everyone's attention back to the world around us.

"Though I've never had the chance to inspect visions first hand, I would have to say that they're real. They match up with what we have recorded for how they should be when my clan investigated such things in the past," Inoichi replied slowly, "As such I would say she's the real deal. A genuine Oracle, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen let out a low whistle at that before he looked around the room to double and triple check that the three of us were the only ones in the room.

We were, I had checked myself too.

"It goes without saying that this does not leave this room and the three of us, Inoichi. As of this moment, Noriko's status as an Oracle is an SS rank secret. You are not to tell anyone without my or my successor's explicit permission."

"I understand, Hokage-sama," Inoichi said solidly.

"Noriko-chan," I shivered under his gaze and tone, noticing how Hiruzen's face softened a bit in reaction.

"Noriko-chan, you are to tell absolutely no one about this. The only person you may tell is my successor in case I was not able to tell them myself. Should you have any more of this visions, I want you to come and report them to me immediately, do you understand?"

"I-I understand, Jiji-sama," I bit out nervously. Kami, being shoved under scrutiny like this really sucked.

The old man seemed to breath a sigh of relief at that before signaling for ANBU. Instantly Inu appeared and Hiruzen nodded to me before Kakashi offered me his hand and took me home via shunshin.

That got things rolling, time to talk to Tou-san. My brain wasn't working right emotionally and I need to know why.

* * *

"What the hell is going on with my brain, Kurama?!" I demanded, stomping past the bars of the seal as I approached the fox.

"You're growing up, Kit, I thought that much should be obvious," he snarked.

"Bullshit, Tou-san. I've been through puberty before, and it was nothing like this!"

"Of course it wasn't you foolish kit. You weren't becoming a hanyou last time! You've started becoming half fox demon, did you really expect that there wouldn't be changes to your personality and habits?"

That...honestly sorta brought me up short. Really in hindsight it should have been expected. With my body maturing and growing faster than it would have normally and demonic traits showing, mental changes really shouldn't have surprised me.

Sighing as I flopped out atop one of Kurama's paws like it was a couch, I looked up at his massive red eye as I replied.

"Sorry Kurama-tousan. Could you tell me what sort of changes I've got to look forward to at least?"

Kurama gave a chuffing laugh as he shook slightly in amusement before flicking me with the tip of a tail.

"It's entertaining," he began, "How you like to apologize every time you lose your temper, no matter how justified you were. While you might have had your mother's temper at the start, you certainly have tempered it since then."

"Of course I have, 'ttebane..." I muttered I sullenly before I felt my ears begin to burn as Kurama's laughter redoubled into a rumbling that shook the sewer of my mind

"Oh shut up! Just tell me what I should expect you damn rug!"

Kurama's laughter sounded for a few more moments before finally quieting as he looked down at me with clear amusement, "Of course kit, of course."

I glared at the clearly patronizing tone.

He made a show of clearing his throat before continuing.

"Now, even though you've quieted your temper with experience from your last life and dare I say vindictiveness in this one, you can expect that it will become more of an issue by the time you enter your physical teens if not sooner thanks to my work. Your hormones will also be a bigger issue than they would be for a normal human."

I grimaced in clear distaste. Hormones, everyone cheer!

Fuck that.

Tou-san seemed to pick up on my mood as he continued, "You can be thankful that you won't have a monthly menstruation and thus won't need to take that pill the slug created to suppress them. Instead, you'll have a single week or so in early spring at which point you'll go into heat and then be done with it till next year."

That was not much more appealing.

"Would Tsunade's pill suppress that as well?" I asked.

"Not sure, Kit." He said with a shrug of his massive shoulders, "given that it's only intended to work for a few days on a normal person, it's possible your body could burn through its effects before it really has a chance to work."

"Oh for Fuck's sake! Can't you do something about that? I was actually kind of looking forward to not having to have periods."

"Maybe, now sure if I will though."

"WHAT?! WHY THE FUCK NOT?!" I demanded in a rush of anger as I flushed and almost threw myself from Kurama's paw.

"Because it's a natural cycle and messing with such a thing, especially in someone as long lived as you will be, is a bad idea." He retorted.

I gave a low, ineffectual growl and huffed as I settled back in.

"Look if it's that much of a bother for you, then why don't you make a seal to prevent it in the first place? You had mentioned planning something to prevent those old fucks from trying to turn you into a breeding sow when they learned of your abilities."

"Ugh, dear Kami don't remind me about those old fagots," I groused.

"I won't, but we still haven't finished our initial conversation, Noriko."

"Hai, hai...let's get on with it..."

He stared hard at me for a few seconds before huffing and continuing to speak.

"By the time you graduate, you'll likely be dealing with a fair amount of interest from the male brats in your class. You'll have been into your maturity by a bit already at that point, but they'll just be getting there and your pheromones will likely get their attention."

I groaned and rolled over to bury my face in his fur.

"Quite. Now while most males in the village will at least pick up on it, you'll likely have trouble with almost the entirety of the Inuzukas."

Cue more groaning.

"They'll likely see you in one of two ways, either they'll view you as a fox and possible enemy, or, and this is specifically for the makes though the females may be affected as well, they'll view you as a mate to either dominate or be dominated by. In short you'll either be a clan wide enemy or in the running for the alpha position."

"Screw that! I am not going to fight Tsume!"

"You may not get a choice, Kit. Now get up and get to work you have things to do. Like those ridiculous defensive seals you thought up for the village."

I grumbled and stated where I was until Kurama unceremoniously threw me from the seal and back into my own mind to wake up.

* * *

After that mental mess and the subsequent clean up, I made a few discrete checkups at the hospital for the purpose of ensuring my rescued Uchiha were still doing well and hadn't been picked up by Danzo or killed by a roaming Obito. Of course, it wasn't like I could walk in, but a spider or two and some flies got in easily enough.

All five had been set up in a single room. With Sasuke having abandoned his bed to share a spot beside Mikoto as soon as he had awoken from the Tsukiyomi and learned she was still alive. The other two kids, the older girl named Midori and the younger boy named Hiraku, they had been set up beside Kagami though the older man was sleeping a lot more than one usually would. I could only assume that the damage done had taken a great deal out of him.

All five surviving members of the Uchiha clan had requested to meet the person who had saved them and regrown their eyes when the Hokage had visited to check on them and tell then what had happened. When he had informed them that Ryuukoe was out of the village and he didn't know when she'd be back given she was a bounty hunter instead of a Konoha nin, there had been some disappointment on their part, especially on the part of the kids. That, of course, surprised them though Mikoto and Kagami had both heard about my persona, and as such accepted it.

Indeed the biggest issue they seemed to have was that they wanted to know how I had regrown their eyes, not that they were going to get that out of me.

Wasn't like anyone could use it unless they became a Jinchurriki and then a sage.

* * *

Once Sasuke had been released from the hospital, I decided I would make a concentrated effort to find out how he was doing. To that extent, I decided that I would actually be attending class in person.

So come Monday morning, I got some breakfast, got my morning exercise, got my shower, dressed, and then headed off to class, deliberately taking a seat beside Sasuke before his fangirls could show up and yell and scream at me. I knew they would, but I figured I could indulge in kindness for once and help shelter him from them.

Thus, I watched with a carefully guarded gaze as Sasuke entered, noting the perplexed look he shot me before taking the seat to my right, putting him against the wall with no room for anyone else to sit beside him. I could see him watching me out of the corner of his eyes as I lazed back in my chair as I put my feet up on the desk as my clones were want to do, simply letting the silence hang between us until he finally grew too uncomfortable and spoke up.

"...Why are you sitting next to me?" He asked softly.

I held my silence for a moment before I sighed and answered, "I figured that you wouldn't want to sit next to a fangirl right after what happened."

His eyes widened slightly in surprise I would guess before he turned his gaze back to the front where our teacher would be with a single syllable of acknowledgment.

"...Hn."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head slightly from side to side as when I felt the corners of my lips quirk.

The peaceful quiet of the room lasted as a few more students came in, notable among them to be Shino, Shikamaru, and Hinata. The former two shot me looks of curiosity to which I shrugged in response while Hinata took the last seat in our row beside me.

I shot her a smile in greeting which she returned warmly with a slight blush on her cheeks. I had to wonder as I went over the memories of my clones if Hinata was just like that normally or if she was developing a crush on me as well like she had on Naruto.

The peace of the pre-class atmosphere was ruined though when Sakura and Ino bashed their way into the room, struggling past each other to run to where Sasuke was sitting only to draw up short when they saw Hinata and I sitting beside him, both of them going wide-eyed and open-mouthed surprise. It really would have been funny if not for them being so damn annoying.

As they recovered from their shock, both girls instantly went red with anger before loudly chorusing, "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING SITTING NEXT TO SASUKE-KUN, YOU DEAD LAST?!"

I couldn't stop the wince that came in reaction to their extremely loud and shrill voices, especially given my enhanced hearing. Before I could even respond though, someone else came to the rescue.

Surprisingly it was Sasuke.

"I asked her to so I wouldn't have to deal with you two," he growled in a low voice.

I shot him my own look of surprise while Hinata looked on with muted interest at our interactions. Sakura and Ino were hilarious though.

Both were gaping life fish and sputtering in disbelief and raw fury as they locked their gazes on me and I returned a foxy grin. Just as they were about to respond and wail like banshees, the classroom door opened and the teacher called for everyone to get to their seats.

The pair closed their mouths and glared before sullenly stomping to their seats where they continued to try and set me aflame with their gazes. It wasn't an issue though I simply dismissed them from my attention and looked to our teacher. Interestingly, our old teacher was gone, and we had a new one.

A new one named Umino Iruka.

I couldn't help the smile on my face as he introduced himself to us as our new teacher as our previous teacher -a real stuck up motherfucker in my opinion- had been killed in the Uchiha massacre.

Really that suited me just fine, so I sat forward, murmuring "thanks" to Sasuke who just "Hn'd" in reply, and I began to actually pay a bit of attention to the class. Iruka was a good person after all.

Given that the man was one of the few to have ever looked past Naruto's exterior and see just how much the boy had needed a helping hand, and then provided said hand. He was kind but also a bit strict, at least when it came to school work. The amount of help he had given to my counterpart was enough to endear him to me.

As such I wouldn't be rubbing juices from a can of tuna on the bottom side of his table like I had to our previous instructor. I also wouldn't be screwing with his mind like I was planning to with Mizuki. Honestly, I had already scouted his residence and it was too easy to get in and mess with him. Two weeks ago for example I replace all his sandals and shoes with matching copies half a size smaller. From the uncomfortable look on his face whenever I saw him walking around, he still hadn't figured it out.

* * *

Author's Note: and there's chapter nine. Ten is almost done and will likely be finished in short order. I am planning for chapter eleven to be an interlude/time skip with viewpoints for a number of different people which will cover the course of the three years or so between the end of chapter ten and graduation.

Now goodbye!


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: Woohoo, chapter ten! And the foxes finally show up. Really they'll be her primary summons outside of super serious situations simply because they're not as obstructive and a bit less...noticeable than the dragons. Plus she can't show that card too early, everyone would suddenly be making plans to take advantage of it or to stop it.

Also in this chapter she puts Kurama on the road back to being at full strength. It's something that'll take the time to reach fruition, but it'll see both of them in a better stead when she starts messing with the higher powers of the world.

This chapter is a bit shorter than normal and is a few short tasks on Noriko's part strung together rather than a full on chapter, my apologies about that.

* * *

Weeks dragged by at an agonizing pace as I worked to clear as many of my side projects from my metaphorical plate as possible. There were things that were still in the process of being arranged, like a private, secret meeting with the head monk of the Fire Temple for the purpose of relieving Sora of his portion of the Kyuubi's chakra. That was a big one though.

I had successfully set up seven village-wide seals with the help of my clones, and that had been a labor and a half to ensure that every single seal out of several thousand were placed correctly. The biggest of the seven seals weren't too complex, but they required hundreds if not thousands of reinforcement points laid out in rings around the city, the largest of them being nearly five miles in diameter. They were all focal points I would need to protect Konoha from Orochimaru and later Pain along with Obito should it be necessary.

The outer three seals formed a concentric ring of barriers that would be powered by natural energy and form massive spheres around the village to both entrap anyone inside that was an enemy and lock out anyone intending harm. They could certainly be broken, but thanks to absorption seals scattered for miles in every direct there would be sufficient energy to power the things against just about any attack.

Though I wasn't sure they would survive a full force Shinra Tensei.

That was what the fourth seal, the one located in the middle layer was for. With one thousand seal points and a hundred and twenty individual seals per point, it was the most ridiculously complex thing I had created. That was only made worse by the fact I had to make two of them.

Should any two of the three outer barriers be broken and a third one brought to fifty percent strength or lower, the fourth ring would activate, taking the Yondaime's Hiraishin barrier to a level no one had ever seen before. Once the ring of seals engaged, they would encapsulate a the village with up to a height of the top of the Hokage mountain -which was inside the ring as well- and down to a depth of five hundred feet before proceeding to swap it with an identical, encapsulated space about forty miles away, thus taking the village out of the way of whatever was trying to destroy it. My cavern and ROOT would be left behind, but my entire complex was rigged to go up if someone with unapproved chakra attempted to go deeper than a thousand feet from surface level.

And I didn't give a fuck about Danzo so that was fine.

The next seal in was a barrier identical to the outer three, followed by a chakra absorption seal that would suck up any youki a tailed beast or Jinchuuriki attempted to use other than my own. That youki would be paired off with natural energy and discharged harmlessly into the environment. The last seal was a mass paralysis seal that would stun anyone with harmful intentions against Konoha for twenty-four hours. Naturally I was excluded from that. If Danzo ever seized power I needed to be able to kill him if I hadn't gotten rid of him already.

The only real downside was that charging all seven of these seals would take literally years -three and a quarter to be exact- as they would all be sucking natural energy from the environment at once. It was thankfully slow enough that I wouldn't harm the natural world -the dragons had been essential to determining how much I could safely take before I would cause damage- as that would just be counter productive.

But that was only one of my projects. I had other ones being run by dedicated Blood Clones in a separate chamber and facility nearly a mile east of my usual location. That was where the projects of more...dubious...moral standards were taking place. I made sure to get a memory update from them once a week, but I felt a sense of utter disgust and intense self-loathing at what I was doing there with every update.

There were groups of clones working to expand their medical knowledge to the point that a number of the bandits I had fought as Ryuukoe had been dispatched there for use in tests. I did make an effort to only send the worst, but it wasn't much of an effort.

There was another group at that location who were using samples collected from the Uchiha Massacre to grow new Sharingan, who then made use of small samples of DNA from Hashirama to force them onto the next stage and to become Rinnegan. The Mangekyou blood sample I had gotten from Shisui had proved to be the biggest aid in that field.

There were also clones experimenting with the Edo Tensei and the less said about that the better.

That was only the start though. Others were putting my double Master Degrees to work. Some of them were working to create the nerve gas Sarin, not something I truly wanted to make, but something that I knew would work dependably and could be used over a large area. Like the clone Zetsu army.

The final group was already working on the large scale portion of their project, having successfully completed small scale testing after a year of careful collection work on the water table and the Naka river. Their job was collecting and subsequently measuring out samples of Deuterium and Tritium. Given the fairly clean results and the ease of assembly with seals, those clones were rather busy assembling scroll based fusion weapons.

When activated, the scroll would eject the Deuterium and Tritium in a small sphere above itself before subsequently crushing and heating the sphere with an amount of chakra equal to about one percent of my total reserve. Of course thanks to the design I could vary the yield by adjusting just how much deuterium and tritium were ejected by the scroll which took such a weapon down from the strategic use to the tactical level where I could theoretically use it in an actual fight rather than remotely or by clone.

Kurama had questioned me about potentially unleashing such a weapon on the Elemental Nations but he had eventually agreed that due to there being no way to study the process that created the weapon, they would believe it to be a chakra based weapon similar to an explosive tag and would labor under such assumptions to recreate it. The fact that all of said scrolls had Hiraishin seals on them so I could summon them ensured I would always know where they were and that they hadn't been stolen.

That was the darker side of my life, something that I had to struggle to accept but maintain my moral disgust for. My quickly growing demonic side reveled in the ideas of such destruction only made such a task harder.

It honestly made me wonder what my confrontation with my darker side would be like when I underwent the final stages of sage and Jinchuuriki training. I mean, I knew of acknowledged the evil things I did and wanted, so would I even have a darker side to fight against? Or would I have a lighter side in some twisted parody of Naruto's training.

I suppose I would just have to find out when I reached that point.

* * *

A few months further on and it was our brief summer break between semesters. Sasuke, to my immense surprise, had actually opened up a bit and now sat with Hinata and I of his own free will. He even gave us answers beyond the standard Uchiha 'Hn'! It seemed that between the silent sympathy I gave during class, Mikoto's magic, and the other remaining Uchiha being so close that Sasuke hadn't had a chance to clam up like he had in canon.

From what I had seen from spying on them, Mikoto had actually knocked the boy silly when he declared he would become an avenger. That had been satisfying to say the least.

He was still quite the wet blanket though.

He didn't participate in my pranks like Kiba would or Hinata would occasionally when I persuaded her to aid me with her Byakugan. Rather he scowled and shook his head. There was amusement in his eyes though whenever he saw the results of my pranks, so I counted that as a win.

Oh and Kiba. He was rough and crude for sure -a bit like me- but it seemed he had developed a small crush on me which had only made things problematic as he liked to sit around me and watch me when he could get away with it. Whenever I caught him I would arch an eyebrow in response and watch as he blushed furiously as he looked away.

The best news was that I had finally been published! Of course, I hadn't actually been published, but rather my translated copies of several books had been published and were doing quite well. It had been to my immense, and, unfortunately, private, amusement when 'The Hobbit' had knocked the current Icha Icha from the top spot of the bestseller list.

Really I couldn't help but laugh at the mental image of seeing Jiraiya learning of such information.

But that was all beside the point as little more than a status update from my clones as I flew through the appropriate seals before biting my thumb and slamming my right hand against the ground in a side chamber.

As I had called, a puff of smoke appeared before clearing to reveal the elegant form of a pure white fox with icy blue eyes. Two facts designated this fox as a summon and not just an animal; one, the fox was the size of a golden retriever, and two, the three tails swishing through the air behind it.

"Hime-sama, it is good to see you. May I ask what I may I do for you?" the fox greeted warmly, dipping its head in deference.

I rolled my eyes slightly at the overly polite greeting before I dipped my own head in return as I spoke. "It's good to see you too, Taiki-san. As for what you may do, my meeting with Chiriku is in ten minutes, and I would like you to take me there and escort me. Yuuma left behind a seal on her last visit so you should be able to reach it easily."

Taiki immediately gave me a pleased smile as she dipped her head and replied, "Of course, Hime-sama, I would take you and escort you. This is why you've dressed up so much and asked for those lessons I take it?"

"Indeed it is," I replied, giving a little spin to let Taiki take in the entirety of my yukata. The base was black before being patterned with faint images of trees that were flush with bright green leaves and various colorful flowers along the bottom of the outfit and the sleeves. There was a practical side to it as well though. I wore my shinobi sandals on my feet, along with a set of tight black shorts and a t-shirt so that I could fight if needed. Senbon were strapped around each thigh and I had a knife similar to and old World War One trench knife up each sleeve. They were chakra conductive of course and still had the triangular blade that had made then so infamous in that bloody war.

That all ceased to matter as Taiki wrapped my left hand with one of her tails before we disappeared in a reverse summon to the fox realm.

Opening my eyes to look over the area, I couldn't help but smile pleasantly. The main part of the fox realm resembled an isolated miko shrine on some densely forested mountain with a path of wide stone steps winding its way through torii gates to reach the summit where the fox's boss lived. As most of the fox clan made their homes below ground in elaborate and sizable burrows, the above ground area was left mostly unspoiled by buildings and other construction. Really it was such a pleasant sight and it made me sigh in contentment as I took it in.

"Hime-sama, I will take you to the meeting now," Taiki said softly, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Thank you Taiki-san, let's get going then."

* * *

As the smoke of our summoning disappeared, I quickly took in my surroundings, immediately noting that Taiki and I had appeared within a spartan, but tasteful office. There was a simple desk with a few papers on it, a few chairs, a bookcase, and behind the desk, a monk that was looking at me incredibly intently.

Immediately I gave a graceful bow to the monk who I had recognized from my memories, with his well muscled body, bald head, sharp eyebrows, and positively dangerous eyes, there was no doubt in my find who this was.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Chiriku-sama. I apologize for having kept my identity a secret, I simply could not risk factions within Hi no Kuni knowing of my actions." I greeted.

Chiriku, head monk of the Fire Temple, looked across the half dozen feet of distance separating us as he intently stared at my small, eight-year-old form before he finally nodded and seemed to relax just a tiny bit.

"You're welcome. Now that you are here though, please introduce yourself fully and have a seat." He said, gesturing with one hand to a chair in front of his desk.

I nodded as I began.

"My name is Uzumaki-Namikaze Noriko, Chiriku-sama. As a former member of the twelve guardian ninja, I do not doubt that you are aware of my status as the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Youko." I said before carefully taking my seat.

"I was. Now while I am...hopeful at the prospect of you being able to help Sora I must ask several questions of my own. The first being how you even knew of his status as a pseudo-jinchuuriki in the first place."

Carefully I looked about and extended my chakra through the room to ensure we were alone before I replied. "To my knowledge, you will be the third person made aware of this information. It is an SS rank secret. Only I and the Hokage may inform others of it. Do you understand?" I asked.

Chiriku's eyebrows had risen noticeably at that information but to the man's credit he gave no other reaction than to nod.

"Good. The secret in question is that I am an Oracle. The Sandaime has had it confirmed after I came to him when the nightmares I had been experiencing of the Uchiha Massacre became real."

Chiriku nodded, his eyes hardening just the tiniest bit before he asked, "and that ability is how you became aware of Sora?"

"Yes, through one of my visions, I witnessed a man, his father I believe, both sealing the remnants of the Kyuubi's chakra into him and unsealing it at one point, only to leave the boy to rampage in the temple."

Chiriku's eyes shot open in shock before his hands started trembling slightly at the thought of such a thing happening.

"And how would you help him, Namikaze-san? I understand that you are likely extremely talented, but you are only eight years old if I may be honest."

I gave a little smile before nodding in reply, setting a hand on Taiki's shoulder as she seemed to take offense to Chiriku's doubt in my skills.

"It is understandable, Chiriku-sama. However, there are three reasons I can do this. One, I have extremely large chakra reserves and this through the use of shadow clones I have been able to study and grow at an enormous rate thanks to my inheritance. Two, I am very familiar with the seal containing the Kyuubi's chakra within Sora, along with the unsealing method. Three, because of the way Sora's seal is done, there is no interaction between his chakra and that of the Kyuubi's chakra, meaning that it's removal will do him no harm."

Chiriku leaned back in his seat and looked me over for several moments before he asked, "Why are you offering this? I harbor no illusions that there aren't factions, as you said, that would do away with you should they learn you have done this."

I was quiet for a few seconds as I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths before I replied.

"While a lesser reason, it is still important. I do not wish the burden of carrying the Kyuubi on anyone else. In my case, I could not give it up even if I wanted to, but Sora can. He doesn't need to suffer through the glares and hatred and if I can spare him that I will."

"Why else?" Chiriku asked, watching as I shifted uncomfortably before his eyes widened.

"You've seen something haven't you? Something more than him just causing harm to the temple and the monks."

Grimacing, I nodded and met his gaze with a slight frown.

"I have. And to stop what is to come, I will need the entire Kyuubi. At this time, only the Yang half is sealed within me, and because there is no Yin chakra present, the Kyuubi cannot regenerate it. That is why I have come here to you. The chakra stored within Sora is both Yin and Yang so the Kyuubi will be able to regenerate to full power within the seal. The only other option I have is to free my father and the Yin chakra from the Shinigami's stomach."

Well what do you know, the implacable Chiriku actually blanched at that. Blanched I say!

"I...can see why you came to me first then. If I give you permission, how soon can you start and how long would it take?"

"I could start preparations immediately with an appropriate room. If so I could begin within a day and I would be finished in a week at the outside. It would only take that long if the seal has dug into his system, however as it has only been three years I doubt there has been time for that."

Silence reigned after that for several minutes before Chiriku sighed and rubbed his temples until he said, "Very well. We have a sealing room preserved from the use of past monks. I will take you there so you may begin preparations. After that, I will go and inform Sora of what is happening."

I stood with him and bowed as I thanked him.

* * *

The sealing chamber I was lead to was absolutely astounding. All the surfaces were made of pure white granite to provide a smooth, flawless surface to write seals on. Lighting was handled by seals that sucked the natural energy out if the air for power. It was fifteen feet in height and on each side, and I couldn't have been more thrilled about it. Really I had only seen the ruins of such elaborate rooms when I had dispatched clones to Uzushio's remains to salvage whatever was available.

Acquainting myself with the room was as simple as stepping inside the isolated room and then saturating it with my chakra and then getting out my supplies. Three bottles of ink, six brushes, and an extra scroll with more of everything available should it be needed. With a nod over my shoulder to Chiriku, I began my prep work while he went to fetch Sora for the extraction. Normally days would be needed for this process on a Jinchuuriki as Akatsuki proved, but thanks to the total isolation and suppression it was under with the five element seal there was no need to worry about the target dying from the extraction as it wasn't a part of their network in the first place and it would go faster since I suspected that there wasn't even a full tail's worth of chakra stored in the boy.

That belief was upheld when Chiriku returned with a tanned boy with pale teal hair and a rather nervous expression on his face, likely wondering why he was here and who I was.

"I have brought Sora-san, Uzumaki-san. You are sure this process is safe?"

"Absolutely," I replied without hesitation, standing from where I had finished creating the outline of a boy a little larger than Sora with seals.

"Sora-san, I do not know if you were told, but sealed within your body is a portion of the Kyuubi no Youko that was gathered from the village of Konoha after the attack. The reason I have come is to remove that remnant of chakra from you so that you do not need to ever worry about it again. It is a burden that I would not wish upon an enemy and certainly not upon an innocent boy like yourself." I said calmly, carefully watching his reaction. He had paled dramatically when I said part of the Kyuubi was inside him so I guess no one had told him or knew of it yet. By the end of my words, he seemed cautious and wary though.

"You...you can get rid of it without hurting me you said, right?"

"Correct."

"...Then just tell me what I have to do."

I gave a small smile before directing him to lay within the outline I had made after stripping him down to his shorts so I could properly ink his skin where needed. From there it was two mind-numbing hours of writing out seals to form what would essentially be a cap that would go over the Five Element seal when I released it and subsequently funnel the youki released from it into my seal. That had been difficult, but I found that simply injecting the youki into my system would make the Hakke Fuin actively absorb it since I wouldn't be actually using it at the time, like how the seal absorbed any excess that was left over when I finished a fight.

So once it was ready, I nodded to Sora's watchful eyes with a small smile as I quietly informed him, "This will hurt quite a bit, so bite down on this." With that, I stuck the handle of a kunai in his teeth for him to bite in place of his tongue. At a look from me, Chiriku closed the door to the room, activating the full suite if isolation seals to keep us separate from the temple.

This would also have the benefit of keeping anyone from sensing the Kyuubi's youki throughout the process too.

I took one deep breath before letting it out as I started the process.

"Fuin!"

Sora screamed.

I screamed a moment later as liquid fire rushed through my body.

* * *

Three painful, burning, aching hours later both Sora and I were sat at a table to blankets draped over us and hot soup in front of us. It had turned out that, contrary to my expectations, significantly more than a tail's worth of chakra had been hidden behind the Five Element seal. Indeed, the actual amount had been closer to two. And one just didn't have that much chakra either removed through or added through their coils without some sort of repercussions.

As such, for the first time in this life I actually felt sick. It was flu-like symptoms that were fading by the minute, but by Kami did it still suck to experience it.

'Yet another thing to thank Kurama-tousan for.' I grumbled to myself.

My train of thought was stopped the next station though when Chiriku sat down on the opposite side of the table from Sora and I, a cup of steaming hot tea in front of him that smelled quite attractive in my current state.

"There were no problems with the transfer I take it, Uzumaki-san?" He asked.

I shook my head. "The only unexpected result is how were currently feeling, but given what I did I really should have expected it. The symptoms will be gone by tomorrow at the latest, but I will suggest that you keep Sora-san from any intensive and chakra related activities for a week to ensure his coils are stable. If anything wrong does happen, you can summon me the same way you sent your reply, I've left that particular seal in place, Chiriku-sama." I replied before sniffling loudly.

Sighing as he nodded, I took note of a weight leaning on me only to smile when I saw that it was Sora who had seemingly fallen asleep with exhaustion and dropped his head to rest it on my shoulder.

"I'll likely head out in the morning if that's alright with you, Chiriku-sama."

The small smile and nod I received in return said it was.

* * *

My return to Konoha involved another trip back through the fox's realm though I when I arrived I ended up being waylaid by Yuuma and Taiki convincing me to join them for a brief meal of roasted venison. Once they returned me back to my chamber underground, I couldn't help but smile. The dragon clan was awesome in pretty much every way imaginable, but they were rather lacking in the cute and cuddly department, something that the foxes were in spades. There was was also the fact that the foxes were never condescending to me or patronizing.

They were honest, polite, and kind in all of our interactions and I made an effort to return the favor. My position as the future princess of the clan probably greased relations between us.

Princess...hadn't that been a novelty to hear about. Turns out that even the Boss fox only has eight tails which put Kurama above her in power. They aren't quite the same as a measure of strength in bijuu, but the tail number is still an accurate strength and position sign in the fox clan. And since Kurama was the only nine-tailed fox, that made him their king, and it made me, as his line heir, their princess.

Jesus Christ that was not something I had been expecting. Though it did mean I could technically summon any of the foxes without worry or repercussions. Granted Tsukishou, the fox boss, would likely be quite upset if I summoned for anything other than a real battle or a conversation with other bosses.

Once home, I nodded to my blood clone replacement and absorbed its memories before laying down and falling dead asleep.

* * *

Author's Note: So there's chapter ten, I hoped you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Chapter eleven is going to be an interlude from the points of view of several characters including Kakashi, Hiruzen, and Kurama. This will take us up to the point of team assignments, so I hope you all enjoy it. Now I have some reviews to answer so read them if you want to, otherwise I'll see you with chapter eleven.

Ja ne!

Author Q&A:

Ducat of the valley: Ask and you shall receive! That's what the next chapter will be after all! I've had several Omake ideas buzzing around in my brain so I hope you enjoy the ones I'll be putting out soon enough.

SixPerfections: That's just fine. The reasons though are these; with Kurama actively assisting her and her last life's knowledge, avoiding ANBU wasn't such a task for Noriko. As for the second part, history has proven time and again that people can and will do truly heinous things to each other when they stop things of others as humans like them. Though I hope to avoid invoking Godwin's Law, I have to say just look at what the Nazis did to Jews, Gypsies, and several other ethnic groups.

Elim Garak: Very astute of you. Noriko has and is considering such things, but at the moment her biggest concern is seeing that she comes out on top at the end of Naruto canon.

Idea Gethe: Don't worry I have some Omakes planned for future chapters and once things get moving with the graduation Noriko will have a lot less time to brood and think so deeply.

Dracoeques: No, it won't. The way I view Youki and Chakra is similar to how I view Water and Ice. They're both have the same chemical composition, but they are in different forms. Consider Youki to be a darker, denser form of chakra. More affected by emotions and denser in terms of power per unit. Say a Kage Bushin took twenty-five units of chakra. The same Bushin would take say five units if youki because there's more energy in each unit. It is still Noriko's chakra, just in a different form. I hope that makes sense.

Ilat-2: I'd really appreciate if you still read the Ryuukoe sections. They are plot important and if have worked hard on them. I won't force you to and I won't deny I've done the same before, but I'll still ask you to read them.

idea getthe: There will be some light hearted moments in the coming chapters, don't worry. Including what I hope will be humorous omakes.

 **Elim Garak:** Pretty much.

 **Elise Caester:** Thank you.

 **Sandmanwake:** I am well aware of what going into heat means for animals.

 **Muxi:** Neither was I, but Noriko needed a believable cover for her foreknowledge and the actions she's taking.

 **Zeicheirenaga:** No pairings as of yet. Yes the Inuzukas will for sure, Aburame's maybe, and certainly some of the tracker jounin with sensitive noses.

 **xbox432:** The Sharingan didn't see through it because it isn't an illusion, it's a transformation.

And that's all everyone! I hope you were satisfied with the answers I gave, if not go ahead and ask some follow-up questions, I'll be happy to answer them.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** Well...crap. This chapter took a fuck of a lot longer to get done than it had any right to. Even with interference in the form of work, art, and family matters, it really shouldn't have taken anywhere near this long. For that I apologize. I hope to get the next chapter out sooner, but we'll just have to find out I suppose.

But enough of my idle chatter, here we are, the combined interlude and time skip that gets us to graduation. Things will start moving when we get there and we'll see Noriko taking more and more of an active role in the world to begin setting her serious plans in motion. Things will also be a bit lighter in tone, though there will be moments of seriousness.

Also we'll get to see Noriko being a little short-sighted in some of her pursuits in the first ever omake!

* * *

Twelve years. He had sat locked away for twelve years. It certainly wasn't the way he wanted to spend that time, but it had been far better than it could have been. His last container had crucified him upon a floating sphere of stone and then chained him down do that he couldn't move in the least. That had been...humiliating to an untold degree in Kurama's opinion. Now he was sealed behind a massive gate within and enormous sewer that served as his jailor's mindscape. Still frustrating and annoying, but far more tolerable.

Looking back, he remembered the way he had planned to rage and riot when he came face to face with his new jailor for the first time, and indeed he had to a degree. His desire to verbally assault the one caging him though had evaporated almost instantly when she had appeared within the sewer. He had expected to wait years to encounter her, but instead he had met her almost immediately after the sealing.

One of his tails flicked out to clang against the golden bars that locked him away, the memory of his first encounter with the one that would become Uzumaki Noriko playing out in his thoughts. That his jailor had been fully grown at that time told him something but dearly wrong, and in the he had time before the seal had fully settled and locked him away, Kurama had taken the opportunity to dig through his jailer's memories. He had been aware that something had gone horribly wrong if his jailor hadn't been a little baby, and the answer to most of his questions had lain within her mind.

Those memories had been something that had both disgusted and impressed him. For all that Kurama was and the unrelenting hatred he felt for humans, there were still traits that he could admit were admirable in the right situation.

Courage. Duty. Honor. Strength. And a few others too.

One had to be truly great to impress him, like Senju Hashirama. That man had fought and even defeated him and the monstrous Uchiha that had enslaved him with those wretched eyes, and strength of that caliber was something that he could respect, even if he resented it.

And that was why he had been impressed with his current jailor. She had gone through life normally until her health began to fail her, at which point she had poured her all into leaving behind some kind of achievement to be remembered by while her health had been poor, she had done what she could to become physically strong despite the futility of it. She had gone through a 'University' and obtained two of the highest awards possible for her efforts to master two subjects that even he had to admit had been beyond him until he looked through he mind for answers. But for all that determination and courage in the face of her fate, she had disgusted him at the very end. Laying in her hospital bed the pitiful ningen had given up and died rather than continuing to struggle and fight as she had before.

Seemingly aware of that failing and apparently disgusted with herself, his jailor had returned a week after their first meeting and confronted him of her own will. Not just that but the little ningen had had the courage and...bravado...to offer him a deal or she would kill herself at the first opportunity, taking him with her.

Needless to say he had eventually agreed with an oath on both their parts to ensure it was upheld.

Fortunately, the investment he had made in his jailor was paying dividends. Immediately his jailor had set to work laying groundwork for their success, even when she was too small and feeble too do anything but wait wait on a caretaker to change her soiled clothing. She came to him when she had questions and sought out the answers when she didn't. The impressive work ethic of her last life ensuring time was never wasted and that they would be as prepared as possible in the future. The integrity and drive Uzumaki Noriko had displayed was why he had stepped in and taken a more active role when things had gone wrong.

On the day of Noriko's sixth birthday, when everything had gone wrong, Kurama had stepped forward and made a decision.

He hadn't been moved per say, but he had been impressed by his jailor, especially when she successfully managed to kill three of her attackers. For that he took the irreversible step and began a new series of changes in his jailer's vessel. Snorting at the memory, Kurama shook his head behind the gilded bars as he considered the wisdom of that choice in hindsight.

Truly, had anyone told him in any way, shape, or form that he would be making a pitiful ningen his heir six years ago, he would have laughed uproariously before eating them. That was then though. In the now it had been a little more than six years since the process began and he couldn't help but be satisfied with the progress. Six years of waiting and his heir had progressed to a point where he could actually admit to being proud of Noriko.

She now bore two long, flexible, prehensile fox tails that extended from her tailbone and was well on her way two a third. Tall, perky fox ears rested slightly on the sides of her head though they were significantly higher in position than her original human ears. The fur on these additions was, of course, a dozen different shades of red like the spiky mane that she wore in a manner similar to that wretched, white haired pervert, the tips of all the additions were black though which added a curious contrast to the colors and left him rather pleased overall with how things were coming along. Her strength was now high enough that he easily felt she could mop the floor with the insane tanuki and at the very least give Matatabi a run for her money.

Really he couldn't have picked a better ningen to become his heir, and better still she was only now coming into her growth spurt that accompanied puberty. Her growth rate had been impressive before, but now it was simply exponential. Even returned to full strength, with both his Yin and Yang halves merged together thanks to his heir. Kurama couldn't help but wonder how close she would be to him in strength when she was fully matured. She wouldn't reach that point for years, a decade or two maybe, but she'd be well on her way there when they eventually fought Akatsuki.

That was to say nothing of her personality. The little ningen that held him locked away within herself was a supreme pragmatist, a trait which he could appreciate. She saw what laid ahead of her and took the necessary steps to ensure that at the end of everything she came out on top. Really, if Noriko had been aiming to become Hokage like her idiot counterpart there wasn't anything that could have been done to stop her anymore.

Nothing short of a superior bijuu, an army, or an unrestricted member of the Sannin or Kage was going to bring her down.

He couldn't have been more proud.

* * *

Twelve long years.

Hiruzen honestly wondered where the time had gone as he looked over the profiles of various academy students as he prepared the list of new teams for this graduation. He had stopped though on one in particular; Uzumaki Noriko, or rather Namikaze Noriko.

The picture in the file showed a well tanned face framed by spiky red hair and three whisker marks on each cheek with a positively foxy grin and mischievousness glinting in vivid purple eyes. He couldn't stop a chuckle as that grin brought to mind some of her more audacious pranks, as she always wore that expression when confronted in the aftermath.

Whenever she was in his presence she just had such a lively air, always grinning and asking questions. Truly she was amazing in how she withstood the hatred of the village. He had been deeply, deeply worried after the attack on her sixth birthday, but something had stopped him from sending her off to Yamanaka Inoichi for therapy, over the objections of Inu and Weasel though. Instead he had doubled her guard and had her watched ever so closely now that she was back on the scene after disappearing from the orphanage. He had no idea how in all the world she had kept from being found within the relatively tiny confines of the village, but that wasn't as important as ensuring she hadn't completely snapped. Noriko had made use of the Kyuubi's chakra that night and that had aggravated the entire council. The civilians had wanted her dead and even the shinobi had been wary, time and information had calmed and reassured the shinobi half of the council, but not the civilian.

That had been six years ago though.

Since then Noriko had come to him and confessed to having met her 'tenant' and learned just who she was, claiming the bulk of the inheritance that her parents had left for her. As it wasn't public yet, she hadn't claimed her parents home nor their family seats on the Shinobi council, but he could tell she was close to doing so. He wasn't quite sure what she was waiting for though.

After all this time, he had come to see far more of Noriko than just the cheerful mask she put on for others. The girl he considered his granddaughter was intelligent, terrifyingly so in his opinion. He knew she hadn't told him everything she had found or accomplished with her inheritance, but even what she admitted to managing was more than enough to raise eyebrows. She was honestly a genius on the level of Itachi and Kakashi, and more than them she had the chakra levels necessary to properly make use of the Kage Bushin technique to aid in her training. As such no one had a clear idea of just where her skill levels laid.

All of this was to say nothing of her visions. The less said about her ability as an oracle the better in his opinion, preferably nothing, so far only he, Yamanaka Inoichi, and Jiraiya of the Sannin knew about that ability.

Now though he was looking at just what team to assign her to. If he went by the academy scores, he would be assigning her to a team with Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura under Hatake Kakashi as team sensei. The team looked good on paper in theory, as it was the traditional two best students paired with the dead last, but having taken the time to personally watch some of Noriko's classes he knew it was wrong. He was aware of just how brilliant Noriko was so her position as dead last was baffling. At least it had been until he had asked her about it.

As it turned out much of the Academy's staff, sans Umino Iruka, were against her, constantly mid marking her grades and failing to give her proper instruction. He had nearly stormed down there himself, but Noriko had asked him not to, sporting her customary foxy grin. When he saw that, he had just known something truly horrible was in store for the bulk of the Academy staff come graduation. Still, he had watched and studied to ensure she would be alright, something he had had time to do after Noriko had told him the secret to paperwork. Now shadow clones handled the bulk of his paperwork, looking over things in detail and catching more and more of the absurd measures the Civilian Council had been trying to sneak by him. That of course had lead to him starting to review the decrees and laws and bills that had crossed his desk in the last twelve years, and the results of that were quite unsettling, but those thoughts were better left for another time.

His thoughts were back to assigning teams for this year. If he had had his way, he would have assigned Noriko to a team with Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata. Those three were a close knit group of friends and had been pulling together ever since Sasuke had returned to class after the massacre. The Uchiha boy had been primed to become a die hard avenger, but the contact from Noriko and the fact that some of his family had survived that night had seen to it that he didn't follow that path. What had started as Noriko and Hinata shielding the boy from his screaming fangirls had developed into an honest friendship after four years of effort on the part of those kids. They trained together, studied together, and supported each other as only die hard friends could. That those two knew of Noriko's burden was a sign of just how close they were and how much his surrogate granddaughter trusted them. As such, it would truly, truly be a shame not to put them together on a team.

Noriko's efforts hadn't only seen to the development of Sasuke Uchiha though. She had started out on the first day of class by making friends with the Hyuuga heiress before proceeding to pull the girl out into the world, helping to break down her shy exterior and increase her confidence. They sparred together and after the two years before the massacre, little shy Hinata had reached a point where she not only stood up for herself, but her father had even admitted that he was proud of her. That had done more for the shy girl than anything else had Hiruzen believed. Now she had formed one part of what could be the most promising team to come out of the Academy in years.

What was stopping him though from making that team though? Noriko had come to him a week previously and told him of another vision she was having. In this one she had failed the graduation test by being unable to perform the normal Bushin only for the assistant teacher Mizuki to tell her of a secondary exam she could perform to graduate. That fake exam was to successfully sneak into the Hokage tower, steal the forbidden scroll, and learn a technique from it. After that, Mizuki would find her, tell her about Kyuubi hiding in her gut, try and kill Iruka, and subsequently be beaten within an inch of his life by her. Upon the completion of which Iruka would give her his own hitai-ate and he would approve and make her a gennin, putting her on a team with Sasuke and Sakura.

When he had asked her just what could happen from changing this event, Noriko had simply shrugged and said she didn't know, but she could guess and that things would vary from the prediction. She couldn't see any further than that event, but that was enough for now.

As such, they had decided to let things proceed as they did in her vision, though Noriko had begged permission to tell Sasuke and Hinata not to worry when she failed as it would actually be a mission from him to bait a traitor. He had relented and agreed to let her do so, and now he waited for it to inevitably happen. Iruka would turn up anytime now, depressed, with the list of graduating students. Honestly the chunin teacher was a gift from Kami to him and Noriko. A genuinely good man, Umino Iruka had been hesitant about Noriko at first but he had eventually warmed up to her and now seemed to see her as something like a little sister. He tutored her when he could and even treated Noriko to ramen at Ichiraku's stand fairly often. Though there was a limit to how often that happened given Noriko's terrifying ability to devour ramen, not unlike her mother he mused.

Still he was unsure about teams.

Kurenai wanted her tracking team, but if Hiruzen was honest with himself he would give Noriko a better team if only to make up for the failings of the past.

His thoughts were halted as a small monkey bearing a scroll appeared on his desk in a puff of smoke.

"Message from Jiraiya, Hiruzen-sama."

"Ah, thank you Tenji." He replied as he accepted the scroll, memories of Jiraiya's last visit to the village, and his first encounter with his goddaughter, came unbidden to his mind.

Privately, within the safety of his mind of course, Hiruzen wondered if Noriko's...retribution upon Jiraiya had had any effect upon his student's ability to procreate. Granted he wouldn't dare question her choice in punishment for her wayward godfather to her face. Still, he had to acknowledge that even for the bright and cheery face Noriko put on while dealing with the village and the academy, she had developed a vindictive streak a mile wide and at least three long.

It mostly showed in Noriko's revenge pranks against particularly rude and cruel villagers Hiruzen reflected, but on the rare occasions he'd had to see his surrogate granddaughter actually get angry he had seen something dark and perhaps even frightening lurking in her cerulean eyes. A particularly vivid occasion had been when Danzo had stopped by his office during one of Noriko's visits. She had immediately tensed and gone on edge at the man's presence, her gaze sharpening into a hard glare. Though the expression had lost some of its effectiveness with her childish visage, the anger and loathing in her eyes had been clear as day all the same.

That was to say nothing of the killing intent that had suffused the room. It was barely gennin level, but to come from a seven year old with only a year of formal training made it impressive enough.

Danzo thankfully had kept the meeting brief, but his eye had strayed to look at Noriko rather often as she maintained her glare throughout his entire conversation and until the elder had left the room.

Shaking his head with a sigh and a repressed his worries about Noriko -she had graduated after all and would be going on missions- he opened the letter and began to read the toad sage's message.

 _"Sarutobi-sensei,_

 _I'll be coming back to the village about a week before the chunin exams start so we can go over the information I've picked up with Shikaku and Bear. Everything I've seen so far points to Orochimaru being on the move but I haven't found either his location or his target yet. I do know that he's set up his own hidden village somewhere in Rice Country, but no luck locating that yet. I suggest checking in with Noriko-chan to see if she's had any visions regarding the snake along with the immediate future._

 _More worryingly than that though, there's rumors of a group showing an especially unhealthy interest in the bijuu. They go by the name Akatsuki from what I've found and they're the ones that Itachi joined up with. What I've picked up suggests that there are ten members total but I've only identified a few. Itachi is one of course, as is Hoshigake Kisame former Swordsman of the Mist, and Akasuna no Sasori. Beyond that I haven't had any luck though._

 _See you soon, sensei._

 _Your student,_

 _Jiraiya_

 _P.S. Your signed, advance copy of the next book is in the storage seal at the bottom of this letter._

 _P.P.S. Keep an eye on my goddaughter and make sure she gets the other copy in the seal. I don't know when little Noriko-chan picked up reading my books, but if it helps protect me from her wrath then I will happily send her advance copies as well."_

Hiruzen paused as he processed everything that had been in the letter, sighing as he read up on his former student's current movements. Orochimaru was not someone he would take lightly in a fight and for the thousandth time he found himself regretting letting him escape. All that he had done was cause misery ever since he had left...

And that was to say nothing of the fact that there was a group hunting information on the Bijuu and Jinchurriki by extension. Nothing good would come of a group trying to either kill or capture the nine Bijuu, no matter the reason.

Oddly, it was the fact that his surrogate granddaughter had picked up Jiraiya's books that worried him the most. That he was being coerced into ensuring the girl got her advance copy of the new book Icha Icha Maid Service only frightened him. He had no choice in the matter.

If he didn't hand it over, then there would be hell to pay when Noriko learned he had withheld it, and he knew that it was every man for himself in this fight. If little Noriko confronted Jiraiya about not getting her copy, then the perverted sage of Mount Myouboku would happily rat out Hiruzen's part in preventing her from getting her book if only to avoid the young girl's anger.

Decisions, decisions...

Sighing, he took a heavy pull on his pipe before shaking his head and activating the storage seal to see two identical orange books pop out from a cloud of smoke. Quickly sending an ANBU off to fetch Noriko, he settled for opening one of the copies to the first page and beginning to read.

Really, at some point, he'd need to properly thank Noriko for telling him to use the Kage Bushin so that he could finally have some leisure time.

* * *

Laying on his stomach in his hospital bed, one Umino Iruka, chunin ranked ninja and teacher at Konoha's Academy mused over the events that had occurred in the last twenty-four hours. He used his thoughts as a way to ignore the uncomfortable twinges from his back as the iryo-nin above him tended to the deep gash that Mizuki's fuma shuriken had left in his back.

Truly, he had never expected that his assistant teacher would turn traitor, much less try to kill both him and a student. He just couldn't understand the degree to which the man had hated Uzumaki Noriko. True he had been wary and distrustful of the girl at first. How could he not be? After all, the little redheaded girl contained the monster that had killed his parents and devastated the village. But only a few months of exposure had shown him that the girl wasn't the demon sealed inside her. No, she was kind, intelligent, playful, and more than a little snarky. Honestly she reminded him to an almost uncomfortable degree of himself when he had been a kid!

And that...nostalgia maybe?...had driven him to interact with the girl beyond the classroom. He had helped her straighten out some of the flaws in her taijutsu techniques, few though they had been, and had even helped her understand more of the theory and history behind things in the academy that they were taught. After barely a month of this quasi-mentorship he had been sure that Noriko was actually smarter than him. The depth and breadth of her insights left no doubt to that and when he had confronted her about holding back so much, she had congratulated him.

Congratulated him!

Honestly he would have been insulted if she hadn't gone on to explain the lengths she went to in order to hide her intelligence and skill from the village, keeping herself far below notice to ensure that no one paid extra attention to her. She was honestly impressed that he had caught on though she admitted to having been sloppy in there more recent conversations and showing more than she should have.

Things had gone beyond a mentorship at that point to becoming colleagues instead. They sought each other's opinions on subjects and often debated subjects far above the Academy curriculum. Still, he knew Noriko was a child, a ridiculously smart child, but a child nevertheless. The pranks she played and the childish actions she indulged in were more than enough to remind him of that fact. And if they hadn't, the entire closet full of copies of Maito Gai's green abomination were.

Where had she even found that many green jumpsuits?!

The night before, though, just hours earlier; had been a harsh reminder that Noriko knew more than he could possibly imagine and that she had depths no one had been privileged to witness.

She had somehow failed the gennin test, which shouldn't have happened and then proceeded to mope around. While he had wanted to speak to her about the test, her emphatic refusal of company had sent him to the a Hokage who had simply told him that this was expected and that he shouldn't worry. And he had done his best not to.

That had worked for all of a few hours before the alarm had gone off and he had learned the Noriko had stolen the forbidden scroll. Fearing for her safety, he had chased he done, only to be joined moments later by Mizuki who had attacked him from behind -impaling him with the fuma shuriken- and then spilled the beans on the secret of why so much of the village hated her.

And then Uzumaki Noriko, student of the Konohagakure Ninja Academy had thrown her head back and laughed.

It wasn't the normal cheerful laughter she made after a good joke or a successful prank. No, instead her laughter had been so cold and so cruel she had honestly terrified him, rooting him to the ground with fear.

Then she had spilled her own secret.

She already knew, and this entire debacle had been a trap to lure out Mizuki. The arrogant traitor had simply stated that he would simply have to kill them both before escaping with the scroll then.

The smile Noriko had given and the killer intent that had flooded the little clearing had left both chunin trembling as the cruel grin on Noriko's face had made Iruka feel as if he was looking upon the Kyuubi all over again before the sensation vanished and Mizuki attacked -Noriko disappearing in the same instant- only to reappear as he was thrown backwards against a tree, screaming in pain.

The reason was obvious.

His arms had been severed just above the elbow and his legs severed just above the knee. The charred, smoking stumps on his body being the only sign of what Noriko had done as she reappeared surrounded by the limbs severed from Mizuki's body. Her grin was gone, replaced by a satisfied smirk as she deactivated what looked to be a weapon frighteningly similar to the Raijin, a brilliant white blade tinged with a faint violet sheen vanishing into the black and silver hilt which then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She had explained how she had known that Mizuki would try something and that measures had already been taken, as evidenced when a squad of ANBU appeared and taken away Mizuki and his limbs with another member staying to provide him with first aid before taking him to the hospital.

Before he'd been taken away though, Noriko had promised that everything would be explained when the chunin exams came.

He had left how she even knew about the exams for another time entirely as he was carted off to the hospital.

* * *

It was the day before team assignments for Sasuke Uchiha, one of the last few members of the famous clan. He was currently on his back beneath a large oak tree with his arms folded behind his head as he looked up at the slightly cloudy sky through the rustling tree branches, his mind abuzz with thoughts about the upcoming team assignments that would be given out tomorrow. Concern and mild aggravation plagued him.

He was concerned that his team would hold him back.

Even after his mother had straightened him out, and wasn't that a terrifying experience, Sasuke still desired to be stronger. He had to be! If he never became strong enough he wouldn't be able to confront Itachi-nii and get the answers he so desperately wanted from him. Why had his brother killed so much of their clan? Why did Itachi tell him to hate him and come kill him? It made no sense for his brother to have acted like that! Granted he had only realized that after he had been sat down and had the issue literally pounded into his head.

That worried him, the potential of being held back by weak teammates.

He was aggravated though because there was only a small chance that he would get a decent team. There was Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and the infamous Uzumaki Noriko. They were the only three out of the entire class of thirty something that could possibly keep up with him. The other students were either too lazy (Shikamaru), idiotic (Kiba), or they were fangirls (the majority of the class sans Hinata and Noriko).

Kami forbid he get a fan girl on his team!

A shudder of disgust shook his body as the mere thought of such an event occurring crossed his mind. The absolutely last thing he needed for a teammate was a weak, whining, screeching, stupid, dieting fangirl. Yes if he had his way he'd get two of the previous three he'd thought of. Either Hinata or Shino would be fine. Both were competent, intelligent, and quite capable. Neither was prone to messing around in the wrong situation.

That left the third spot to Noriko, and he honestly wasn't sure why he wanted her on his team. She was strong beyond a shadow of a doubt, as she had demonstrated dozens of times in their private training sessions, easily tossing Hinata and himself around like ragdolls at the same time. Her knowledge of jutsu and theory made him honestly feel like an idiot at times too. But then why was she the dead last in their year?

Getting an answer to that had been like pulling teeth with your bare hands. Noriko had avoided giving a straight answer at every chance she could until he had gotten Hinata to literally disable her via Jyuuken until they knew why Noriko was the dead last. That answer was not something either of the pair had been prepared to hear.

The sensei's and the books all lied to them. The Kyuubi hadn't been killed by the Yondaime, instead it had been sealed into a child that wasn't even an hour old. Of course that would have been enough of a specter to grow up under, but apparently some idiot had blabbed the secret to the whole village so instead of Noriko having a normal childhood, she had been constant hated and abused by the majority of the village, left to fend for herself for nearly her entire short life.

That knowledge had infuriated him. He counted Noriko -despite being a loud, obnoxious prankster- as one of the few people he would fight and maybe even kill to protect. She had shown him kindness after the massacre, and not in the stifling way that all the stupid fangirls tried to. Instead she had given him space, driven off the wretched harpies, and simply told him she'd be there to talk if he needed it. He wasn't sure when, but at some point the dislike she had had for him seemed to giveaway to grudging respect and eventually a mild friendship.

It was baffling in hindsight Sasuke considered, the small gestures hadn't meant much and really shouldn't have lead to the friendship they had, but those small gestures had been what he needed, an escape from the overwhelming attention everyone else thrust upon him. And to know that one of his few real friends was constantly suffering with hatred and abuse from a village that didn't bother to understand her left him absolutely livid.

It was at that point that he had realized Noriko wore a mask. Feeling the loathing that burned inside himself, Sasuke had met Noriko brilliant purple eyes and realized that the same fire burned away inside her, hidden deep from the world. A private conversation after the Hinata had left had shaken him even more.

A few questions here and there and Noriko had straight up admitted to the absolute malice she held for nearly the entire village and her vehemence had terrified him even more as she spilled out killing intent before quickly squelching her emotions as she said that she just didn't care enough to deal with the villagers.

He couldn't understand. If she hated them so much why would she just ignore them?!

She told him why. It was because the villagers, for all their hate and anger, were irrelevant in the long run. Eventually, she had said, she would stand victorious and the villagers would realized their mistake when she would leave without a backward glance. She had said she would abandon them to whatever fate awaited them when she left, and it wouldn't matter to her whether it was salvation or damnation that claimed the village once she finished playing her part in the future.

She had flat out refused to tell him any more after that, from what was in the future to where she would be going if she left the Leaf.

It worried him.

* * *

Four years...

My how the time flew by when you looked back on it. A lot had happened in that time. I had finished putting together dozens of plans, spreading a hidden influence across the elemental nations, laying traps that would lie in wait until the day they were needed. My skills were sharpened to the fullest extent, my power pushed as far as it could go. I had done everything that I possibly could to prepare for the coming darkness. I had every tool and trick I could think of ready to be used at a moment's notice. Yet I was still worried.

No plan survives contact with the enemy, I knew that, and that was why I was prepared to fly by the seat of my pants should everything come crashing down around my ears. I didn't think it would but I would be prepared if it did. Things would start tomorrow, an irrevocable path that would set the whole of the Elemental Nations on a path to war.

Only time would tell if I had made the right choice.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Finally! Jesus Christ on a cracker this chapter did not want to get written. Between computer issues, health issues, writing issues, and family issues I just could not get this chapter done, but it's here now and I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you all for 196 reviews, 465 favorites, and 613 follows for this story. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Now for the fully CANON Omake that I promised you guys.

* * *

 **OMAKE:** Kurama idly watched through his Kit's eyes as she slapped her palm down on the floor of one of her training rooms, earning a cloud of smoke from the summoning jutsu which quickly cleared to reveal the summon.

It was a small one as far as the dragons went, about the size of a large Turkey he noted as he observed it. The dragon looked like an eagle made from metal plates, with bright, shining eyes that resembled shining gems rather than actual organs. The metal of its body was a dull silver-gold that shone slightly in the room's light.

"So this is Horus..." Noriko mumbled to herself, something he of course heard as he watched the summon meet Noriko's eyes with its own before he cut his connection as settled in for a nap.

Of course it wasn't like the kit would let him get any sleep.

"Tou-san, you have any ideas on how I'm supposed to take care of this guy?"

"Finding out what it eats would be a start." He grumbled, noting that Noriko was reaching forward to run her hand over the dragon's head.

 **"HOLY FUCK!"**

Instantly Kurama's eyes were wide and alert as he took in the state of the situation, only to sweat drop as he saw that Noriko was swinging Horus around like a toy, desperately trying to shake the metallic dragon-bird off of her hand, the fingers of which were firmly clamped within Horus's beak.

 **"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! LET THE FUCK GO OF ME YOU FUCKING METAL TURKEY!"**

The dragon didn't respond as Noriko started banging it on the ground in retaliation before Noriko howled in pain as Horus went arching through the air to hit a tree.

"Well it seems partial to finger food Noriko, I suppose that's a start." Kurama chuckled as he felt the tiny pull on his chakra as four of Noriko's fingers quickly regrew.

"Not now Tou-san! I'm gonna cook this fucking bird for dinner!" She shouted in reply.

"Oh calm your tits, kit, it's not like it did any permanent damage."

"It's the principal of it! I'll eat anything that tries to eat me!" She shouted back as she stalked towards the summon which only just seemed to have realized the danger it was in as it gave a metallic squawk before taking off through the trees to escape becoming dinner.

"I'm so kicking Fafnir's ass after I eat this little shit!" Noriko declared.

Really, if the situation hadn't been so entertaining, Kurama might have felt a pang of concern for the golden dragon that was in charge of hatchlings in the dragon clan. As it was he was instead enjoying watching her adopted daughter lose her nearly unflappable exterior in favor of showing how she really felt.

Really, it was almost as good as that time when all the male members of the Inuzuka clan had gone looking for the source of her scent during her first heat a few months ago.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:** And we're back with chapter twelve! Thanks to all of you who have stuck with the story and are still reading, I greatly appreciate it. First I'd like to apologize for how chapter eleven was a filler. There's no other word for it; it was a filler. I just couldn't in all honesty drag out those four years at the academy as real chapters because it would have been boring as fuck and I was itching to get a move on into the canon storyline.

Canon thankfully starts with this chapter.

It's gonna be rather obvious, but I'll say it now, I don't like Sakura. Even the post time skip Sakura is annoying and just detestable in my opinion. There's very little to like about her, and while the potential for character growth is huge with her, she's still a USDA approved, Grade A, asshole. So my apologies to her fans but there will be some Sakura bashing though I'll be trying not to go out of my way about it as Noriko just views her as a problem to fixed so that the future doesn't get fucked up, she's doesn't outright hate her like she hates say...most of the Uchiha or the Council or Danzo.

Lastly I would also like to say that I'm overwhelmed with the response to my first ever Omake. I honestly hadn't thought it was THAT funny, but apparently a number of you did so I'm happy to see about more of them in the future.

Final note, there are two polls up on my profile that deal with the wave mission, go vote now!

Now on with the show!

* * *

"...Team Seven will consist of Uzumaki Noriko, Sasuke Uchiha, and Haruno Sakura, with Hatake Kakashi as sensei."

With Iruka's declaration I let my forehead hit the desk before me as an annoyed groan made its way out of my throat. To my right, Sasuke gave a 'Hn' that somehow managed to convey sympathy while to my left Hinata gently rubbed my shoulder with a small giggle.

"C-Cheer up Noriko-chan, at least Sasuke's on the team with you, rather than Kiba or someone worse like Ami," she offered.

I simply answered with another groan.

Perhaps I shouldn't have told Jiji about team assignments, maybe I would have gotten Hinata on my team instead of Crazy-Pyscho-Bitch-Banshee. Though it's possible this would have happened anyways, still it made me sigh in annoyance as the jounin sensei came and claimed the rest of the teams.

Sitting up and waving a goodbye to Hinata, I looked briefly to Sasuke as I said, "We've got about three hours to burn before Kashi-nii gets here, want to go get some lunch, Sasuke?"

Sakura instantly snapped out of whatever daydream she was in as Sasuke 'Hn'd' am affirmative, making me shake my head with a rueful smile as we both stood and headed for the door. She cried out, though whether it was in anger, indignation, or abandonment as she asked -read demanded- "Where are you two going?!"

"We're getting lunch Haruno-san, you can join us if you can behave." I replied, waving over my shoulder back at her as I turned and lead the way out of the school and towards Ichiraku's Ramen.

* * *

Sighing happily on my stool as I patted my slightly swollen belly -eating two dozen bowels of ramen could do that to a person- I smiled before my expression soured as I looked to see Sakura picking lamely at her small, vegetable ramen. Shaking my head, I met Sasuke's eyes and he shrugged before looking back to his second bowl of beef ramen.

"Haruno-san." I began.

Immediately the pinked haired girl looked up at me, near loathing burning in her eyes as I almost regretted my course of action. "What is it?"

"You need to eat more if you don't want to hold Sasuke-kun back and be a useless teammate."

There was an annoyed look shot in my direction by Sasuke but he kept quiet thankfully as Sakura seemed to work through the mental course of realizing that I, the dead last of the academy, had both given her advice and told her off. The pinkette's reaction eventually settled on sputtering, red-faced indignation that I was quick to cut off.

"Haruno-san, if you really want to be a ninja and not just play at being one then take this seriously. Ninja burn something between three and four thousand calories a day. I personally burn closer to six thousand and Sasuke likely burns around three. I doubt you even take in more than fifteen hundred a day."

"Well of course I don't eat like a pig, baka! I'm on a diet!"

I smothered a heavy sigh as I replied, "Sakura, have you ever seen a kunoichi on a diet? Have you ever seen a fat ninja even other than an Akimichi? We don't need diets you dunce. If you're a real ninja then you'll be exercising so much that it won't matter how much or what all you're eating."

"She's right you know," Ayame cut in, earning a grateful smile from me, "If you're going to be a ninja than that means you have to act like it and eat like it. At the moment Haruno-san, you'd likely collapse from exhaustion on a mission since you eat so little."

Sakura seemed torn on how to respond, especially since the speaker was a rather fit and attractive young woman. Before she could stick her foot in it, I polished off my last bowl, Sasuke already having finished his, before I took out the appropriate money and paid for our meals as I said, "You can think on it later Haruno-san, Kashi-nii will likely be at the academy soon."

I hopped down from my stool, waving goodbye as I started to walk away calling out, "Thanks Ayame-nee, Teuchi-ji, lunch was great!"

"It was no problem, Noriko-chan, come back when you have the chance."

* * *

We were left waiting for twenty minutes before the door to the classroom slid open, admitting a tall ninja with gravity defying gray hair and an extremely bored expression on the visible quarter of his face.

"My first impression is...I don't like you."

Instantly I rolled my eyes and snorted in return, earning a mild glare from Kakashi before he kept speaking.

"Meet me on the roof in five minutes."

With that our sensei vanished in a shunshin which I quickly mimicked, disappearing in a swirl of light blue fire before reappearing on the roof top, leaning against the railing as Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow at me before Sasuke appeared a scant second later in a swirl of leaves.

It was nearly the full five minutes later when Sakura stumbled up onto the roof, panting heavily and prompting a sweatdrop from all three of us.

"Good now that we're all here let's do some introductions."

"What do you want to know?" Sakura asked.

"How about your likes, dislikes...your dreams for the future, and things like that." Kakashi replied.

"Why don't you go first then sensei?" the pinkette asked.

I very nearly facepalmed at just how close this was following the manga, even if Sasuke and I weren't even speaking yet, still I turned my attention back to Kakashi as he answered.

"Oh me? Well my name is Hatake Kakashi...I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes...dreams for the future...hmmm and I have lots of hobbies…"

 _'Really Kashi-nii? Come on, you can do better than that, I know you can.'_

"Now it's your turn, you go first Pinky."

Sakura flushed a little as both Sasuke, Kakashi, and I all turned our attention to her as she answered, "My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is…*blushes*...Well the person I like is…*blushes*...And uhm, my dream of the future…*blushes*...uhm…? Oh yeah! I really hate Noriko."

 ** _'By Kami kit, if that girl doesn't man the fuck up or get killed soon I'm gonna have to ask you to kill her so I don't have listen to her. Future usefulness be damned.'_**

 _'I won't fight you on it, Tou-san.'_

"...And my hobby is…*blushes*..."

I didn't even fight the sweatdrop this time as Sakura finished her introduction, leaving me feeling nothing but despair at the team setup that Jiji had given me.

Kakashi seemed to feel the same way if his sigh was anything to go by, but he moved on as he said, "Alright, you next Broody."

I very nearly rolled my eyes while Sasuke actually did before starting his introduction as he said, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are a lot of things i don't like. I do like my mother, Kagami-sama, and Noriko-san. I train and my dream is to resurrect my clan and learn the truth about why my brother killed them."

 _'A lot better than I was expecting to be honest,'_ I admitted to myself, just a bit surprised that Uchiha Sasuke, brooder extraordinaire, had named me as one of the few people he liked. It was enough of one that I actually felt a touch of heat rise to my cheeks. I had no interest in Sasuke as anything other than a good friend, at least right now, but the attention that was now focused on me from the rest of my team, especially the fiery glare from Sakura.

"Alright, you're next Tomato."

I arched an eyebrow at Kakashi's nickname for me before sighing with mild irritation as I said, "My name is Uzumaki Noriko. I hate stupid people, bigots, and fangirls. If I want any of you to know anything more about me I'll tell you myself in private."

It was nice for sure to finally be shedding that damn mask that I had worn for the last six years in public. Now that I was out of the Academy and in my team, I was well set to start instituting my plans for the future and I could finally start being honest in my interactions with people.

Or at least more honest if Kakashi's questioning look was anything to go by compared to Sasuke's knowing look.

"...Alright then, tomorrow we start our duties as shinobi. First we'll do something with just the four of us."

"What will we be doing sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Survival training."

Sasuke and I both kept to ourselves at the explanation, but Sakura couldn't seem to as she stated, "We've had enough of that at the Academy."

"This isn't normal training," Kakashi replied, shooting Sakura a look, "This time I'm your opponent."

Deciding not to listen to his mind games about how two thirds of us were going to fail, I sighed and tuned back in just as Kakashi was giving us the instructions on when and where to meet. I took my information paper when he handed them to us before I pre-empted Kakashi's attempt to flee as I said, "If you know what's good for your books kashi-nii, you'll be on time for all team get togethers."

The jounin immediately looked to me, and at the foxy grin I let slide across my face, I noticed a tiny glimmer of fear in Kakashi's eyes as I vanished in a swirl of blue white fire, on my way to his apartment to pick up his books before he could try to hide them.

* * *

Morning came all too soon, and given the warning I had offered Kakashi and the books I had appropriated from his apartment, I decided to edge on the side of caution and show up a few minutes early, having already eaten a hearty breakfast beforehand. I took a seat on one of the three stumps and settled in to finger comb my unruly, spiky hair as I offered a nod to Sasuke as he greeted me while I pulled my fiery locks into a low ponytail that hung down to my waist in a manner very similar to Jiraiya's hair style.

I vaguely missed my slightly curly hair from my last life as I could actually put it into different styles where all the choice I had with my current hair was whether or not to cut it.

Right at five Kakashi appeared on time to my pleasant surprise, though the dark glare he shot my way told me he was not happy at all with my actions.

I settled for a cheeky grin and sticking the tip of my tongue out at him in return before hopping from my seat to form a small arc in front of Kakashi with Sasuke and Sakura.

"Alright you three. You already know that two of you are going to fail so here's the exercise," Kakashi began, withdrawing a clock from a storage seal before setting it on one of the logs as he continued, "This clock is set for noon, you have until then to secure one of these two bells." -he held them up for us to see before attaching them to his belt- "Whichever one of you doesn't get a bell is going back to the Academy. Now if you seriously expect to succeed, come at me with the intent to kill."

A pair of kunai poofed into existence in my hands as Sasuke drew his own one before we looked to Kakashi for the signal to start.

"Now begin."

Instantly, Sasuke and I leapt backwards into the tree line dodging around a bit before we met up on a large tree branch in relative silence as we both watched Sakura disappear from the clearing and immediately start looking for us.

"So you figure out the purpose of the test yet Sasuke or am I gonna need to explain it to you?" I teased lightly, earning a scowl and a derisive 'Hn' from my teammate.

"Good, now since she's your fangirl, I'll let you go bring Sakura in on this while I occupy sensei."

He nodded in reply before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

On my own, I let my grin become positively malicious as my giddiness bubbled up. This wasn't my first opportunity to test myself against someone with Kakashi's skill level, but it was my first time doing it as myself and not Ryuukoe. Now I wasn't limited in my techniques as I usually would have been as my alter ego, anything I knew was available, and I started out by letting chakra flow to my eyes, my muscles, my bones, my nerves. and every other bit of my body as I enhanced myself, albeit unnecessarily, for the upcoming fight right before I disappeared in a swirl of blue fire to reappear opposite Kakashi in the clearing as I cracked my neck asking, "You ready to play, Kakashi-sensei?"

He didn't reply verbally, but his one visible eye narrowed and I allowed myself a small chuckle as I launched forwards to engage him, my speed well into high chunin territory even though I was significantly holding back, and that was to say nothing of my resistance and gravity seals.

I caught sight of his one eye widening in surprise before he awkwardly shifted to block a swift kick aimed for his head, grabbing my shin as he did so. I used his hold to launch my next attack, twisting as I brought up my other foot to catch his wrist and force him to release me as we both backed off a touch before attacking each other.

Rapid fire kicks and punches shot between us, more than a few grazing me thanks to my self limiting while a few solid blows managed to hit Kakashi as the minutes dragged on, my chakra senses keeping track of Sasuke and Sakura while I shrouded their presences by flooding the area with my chakra.

At one point close to five minutes in, Kakashi made a grab for my ponytail, seemingly intent on teaching me a lesson about long hair in combat only for my spiky mane to lash out at him, several needles of hair driving into his fingers and palm before he could pull away and remove them.

I made a show of panting a little more than necessary as I grinned and said, "Looks like first blood goes to me sensei."

The dark glare I got in return told me what Kakashi thought of that but any rebuttals was put on hold as Sasuke shot from the ground and into a roundhouse kick, beginning his own martial exchange with our ex-ANBU teacher. The blows were as clean and quick as my own, though they lacked a bit in the power department, as Sasuke pushed at our sensei. His eyes were still black for the time being, a sign that Sasuke hadn't activated his Sharingan yet to try and match Kakashi.

Wouldn't that be a surprise once Sasuke finally used it. All he had needed was exposure to a sufficient level of killing intent to unlock and mature them and I had been all too willing to provide such killing intent during a one on one training session between us.

Helping him with that had been one of the few things that I could do to help him grow up as the way in my help had provided meant he listened to me a bit more and from there I had been able to help change his opinion and mindset. The fact that he assuredly counted me as his friend still worried me as it meant that I was his most absolute target for gaining the Mangekyou Sharingan, but I had I plan in place for that, one drawn from my days of reading fanfics.

Either it would work or I would have to seriously consider putting down my teammate.

My mental musings were cut off when Sasuke was tossed away from Kakashi, hurling a fireball at the gray haired man as I dashed in and followed up behind it, attacking our sensei as I drove him towards the edge of the clearing with Sasuke quickly leaping back in to join the assault as we pressed our teacher.

Right as he reached the edge of the clearing, I backed off, dropping to all fours as I let a blow push me away so I could get the needed distance for my technique. I pushed chakra into my hands and let it take shape before lancing down into the ground and then racing through the soil to erupt at Kakashi's feet, wrapping him up past his knees in golden chakra chains as Sasuke made a go for the bells, grabbing one of Kakashi's wrists for leverage while Kashi grabbed his other hand to stop him.

And then a small, pale hand left the bushes directly to Kakashi's right and pulled the pulls away.

 _-break-_

As we settled back into the clearing, Kakashi watched the three of us group up again before asking, "Very good. Now that you have the bells though Sakura, who are you going to share them with?"

The pinkette was frozen in indecision for a moment and seemed about to toss one to Sasuke when I cut in and said, "Give it up sensei. We worked as a team and we got the bells as a team. Dividing up the prize is just an attempt to make us in fight, correct?" I finished my question with a raised eyebrow, baiting Kakashi to deny it before he sighed and replied.

"Very well, good job you three. I'm honestly impressed that you figured it out and managed a working strategy to succeed. Noriko, Sasuke, both of you already have excellent skills, far above what I was expecting gennin to have fresh out of the Academy."

"The Academy is a crapshoot sensei," Sasuke put out in a cool tone, "Noriko and I had to practice outside classes constantly to get anywhere near where we are now."

Kakashi 'hmmed' to himself as he withdrew the one orange book I had left him with yesterday and began reading, "Than perhaps the two of you can help bring Sakura up to speed in between missions."

I immediately scowled in response to Kakashi's suggestion as I asked, "Isn't that supposed to be your job, Kashi-nii? Or do I need to introduce one of your signed copies to a Katon?"

The look Kakashi shot me was positively gloomy as he frowned beneath his mask. "Mah, mah, there's no need for that Noriko-chan," he said in an attempt to placate me, "For now let's get some lunch to celebrate your success as gennin."

Lunch was quiet after that until I pulled Sakura away as our group broke up for the day and created a shadow clone. I told the raving lunatic that was Sakura that she could either man up and go with my clone to train properly or she can keep being useless and never be noticed by her 'Sasuke-kun'. She certainly blew up in my face at my words, but by the end of it, she at least seemed to calm down after a few minutes of being verbally berated on my part.

It was probably a bit cruel of me to use her affections for Sasuke to motivate her, but really, what else could I do with the useless wench?

Not much that's what.

Though Kurama did suggest eating her since I'm not a human anymore.

I'm holding out on that one.

* * *

The next morning saw us gathered at the Hokage's Tower for a mission, and just wouldn't you know it, our very first mission was catching Tora. Now I didn't necessarily hate that demonic cat, but several encounters during my time on the streets had taught me to respect it. That the vile creature had survived the clutches of its owner -Madam Shijimi- and had been alive for at least twenty years was enough for me to have a healthy wariness. That wariness seemed to go both ways as ever since a particularly nasty fight over some stolen food, Tora had made sure to keep her distance from me as well.

So as a matter of course I ended up being the one who had to carry Tora back once we had run her to ground. The fact I was the only member of the team to come out without injuries wasn't very well received, especially by Sakura who couldn't seem to decide whether she wanted to glare at me or the cat that had slashed up her face more.

That first encounter with Tora seemed to set the tone for our future D-rank missions. We never had an easy job, all of them were physically demanding, and, more often then not, something tended to go stupid during the course of the mission.

Like when Sakura ended up with beehive on her head when trying to chase Tora through a tree.

Or when Sasuke was attacked by a family of angry badgers during a pest control mission.

Or like when that crate of cheese wheels broke open and rolled over me, regardless of my prodigious skills.

It was a curse I decided, and Kurama supported my assumption. It absolutely had to be something like the C-rank curse or the way the team number seven was cursed.

* * *

The following months were just like they were implied to be in canon other than the more physical jobs and the stupid that kept cropping up. One of the biggest, but least drastic, changes I could pick up was that we were often fast enough with our work that we got multiple D-ranks done in a day. By the end of our first three months out of the academy, team seven had racked up more than double the D-ranks of any of the other rookie teams.

The most dramatic change had been our team dynamic. Without Sasuke being a complete dick and just a minor one instead, things moved easier between us and our ability to cooperate was far and above anything from the manga except when team seven had been under fire. The fact that Sasuke was willing to step in and curb Sakura's idiocy to a degree was an enormous help, I honestly don't think I could have made it those three months if he hadn't been willing to either shut her up or force her to work with me.

And that brings up Sakura again...honestly I was still on the fence about hating the girl, she was making some effort to improve herself -minor though it was- and she was still a waste of space, but the seeds of change had already started to grow there. It was small but Sakura's physical state had improved noticeably under mine and Sasuke's attention though she was still physically weaker than all the rookies except Ino and maybe Shikamaru.

It was enough to stave off killing her though, to my constant regret whenever she bitched.

My own, more personal, activities were turning dividends. With Ryuukoe out and patrolling the land of fire, bandits and nuke-nin numbers had been significantly lowered. Enough that my alter ego was now an unofficial part of ANBU. Years of hard effort hazard seen her gradually welcomed into the ranks of Konoha and even brought in as one of Jiraiya's agents. That provided a gold mine of information, as for all the efforts my clones had made spreading out and spying across the Elemental Nations, there were still far too many holes for me to be comfortable with.

I could quite literally see the coming war in the numbers that were laid out by the information I acquired. Things were going to start coming to a head soon enough.

My experiments had tapered off after four years of work. With the ability to perform dozens, if not hundreds of such experiments at once thanks to my clones, and information gained through a raid on one of Orochimaru's many labs, I had finished nearly all of my gene-therapy work. I hadn't applied all of it to myself yet, but I had done enough that I was confident in my ability to trump most any opponent. There were few traits left to collect, such as the ability to gather nature chakra that one of Orochimaru's subordinates had.

Those would come with time though, I would make sure of it. In this land of monsters, I would stand atop them all and thrive against all odds, even if it meant doing horrible things to horrible people.

The ends justify the means.

Indeed they do, at least for me.

The fact that it doesn't bother me as much as I feel it should still scares me, but after nearly seven years I'm finally starting to understand and adapt to the changes that becoming a hanyou has made in my thought processes. It's still damn disturbing though.

After those three months though, I took a bit of time to visit the Hokage, informing him of my latest 'vision' of when team seven was sent on the Wave mission. Jiji certainly didn't like that we were going to end up against Zabuza Momochi and his sidekick, but after stressing just how important the mission seemed to the team as a group he relented and agreed to assign us the job when Tazuna came calling.

That was good for a number of reasons, it meant that we were starting to close on the Chunin exams. Those were certainly going to be quite the circus, especially now that I had finished up a number of my traps and experiments. It also meant that for the time being, canon was still holding true, more now at the very least. Still I needed to be cautious, there was honestly no telling what Orochimaru and Tobi would pull if and when I cornered them.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** And there's chapter twelve, I hope you all enjoyed it. Next up is the Wave mission and by the time you've finished reading this author's note, a few polls will be posted on my profile where all of you can go and vote on the outcome of the mission and what actions Noriko will take there. Now go vote and review, and thank you all for reading my fic.

Ja ne!


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:** *Coughs nervously* Ohaiyo readers~! So, um... It's been...a bit over six months since my last update. *Shaky laughter* I do have a reason for it though! That would be the forty or so chapters I've written for a Planetary Annihilation multi-cross on SpaceBattles* and SufficientVelocity* that I'll put up here at some point along with seven or eight chapters for a Worm/Arpeggio of Blue Steel crossover I've also written. So in short, I did get distracted. But I'm back! Sadly this chapter hasn't been beta'd.

Also, HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

936 favorites, 1,158 follows, and 321 reviews?! I honestly never expected to break 1k in any of the statistics but you guys have proven me wrong! So thank you all so much for the attention. It just gives me the warm and fuzzy feelings to know that so many people enjoy my story. Now, enough of my blathering, on with the chapter.

*-If you want to find me on either one, my username is Battleship_Fusou. It would be here too, but some dead account has it at the moment.

* * *

The mission to Wave.

Fucking finally.

That was the only thought running through my mind as I walked beside Kakashi towards the Hokage's office, Sasuke and Sakura tagging relatively close behind as we went. The secretary waved us in with only a minor glance in my direction as I passed by her desk, she was likely the most tolerable person that Jiji had found to be his secretary, only shooting me occasional looks and never really going out of her way to make my life hard.

 _'Kami that's just sad. Do I really expect everyone to be assholes?'_ I thought for a moment before pausing to consider my answer, _'Yes. Yes I do.'_

Further musing was cut off as we walked into the Hokage's office, a pleasant smile quirking my lips as I met Jiji's eyes and saw the slight smile he wore.

Once we were only a few steps away from the Hokage's desk, the four of us came to a halt as Kakashi gave a nod to our village's leader before he spoke.

"Hokage-sama, I was told you had a mission you wished to give us?"

"Indeed, Kakashi," he replied warmly, "While they may not speak much of it to you, at least some of your team believes themselves to be capable of taking a C-rank mission."

As both his and Kakashi's eyes turned to me and I replied with an easy smile and a shameless shrug.

"Should you think they're ready for it, I have a mission that I was thinking would fit your team rather well." He continued.

Kakashi was silent for a moment, but he did take in the eager expressions building on Sasuke and Sakura's faces as I let my grin widen.

With a sigh of defeat the jounin gave in as he said, "I suppose I can't really argue with this. They're about as good as they can get without experience outside the village."

"Alright, please send in the client," Sarutobi called, answered a moment later by the opening of a side door to admit the entrance of a short, rotund, old man. Instantly I felt my nose crinkle in distaste as the scent of old sake assaulted my nose. "Kids?! I pay for ninja and you give me a group of brats that don't look like they've even started puberty!" He complained.

Loudly, I might add.

Fortunately no one noticed my tiny wince at the client's overly noisy entrance as Sarutobi continued unabated saying, "Team 7 this is Tazuna, a bridge builder from Nami no Kuni, you will be protecting him on his journey home and as he finishes his current project."

"Fucking charming..." I muttered, just barely loud enough for Kakashi to catch as Tazuna haughtily looked at us. Our teacher decided to ignore my muttering though as he replied, "I assure you, Tazuna-san, that Team 7 is more than qualified for your mission."

Sarutobi nodded in agreement as he said, "You leave in the morning. I wish you the best of luck."

Tazuna just snorted and replied, "Right, just try not to be late, I'm an important person."

For all the truth of that statement, I couldn't help but roll my eyes as Tazuna, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura turned and left the room, only my sensei casting a glance at me as I instead approached the Hokage.

"Hey Jiji, could we talk in private for a few moments?" I asked softly.

I saw his eyes widen almost imperceptibly before he nodded and made a hand signal, sending the various attending chunin and ANBU out of the room. Once the doors were sealed, I flooded the room with my chakra to ensure we were free of eavesdroppers before nodding as I pulled my energy back under control.

"You've had another vision I take it, in addition to the first one?" Sarutobi asked softly.

Pausing for a deep breath I shook my head slightly -to his surprise- and replied, "As I told you before, our client has lied, we're going to face the Demon Brothers on our way out to Nami and then we'll end up against the Demon of the Mist, Momochi Zabuza once we actually get to Nami. However, I think...I think that if I play it right I can get a much better resolution than my vision had."

"Noriko," the Hokage growled worriedly, "The ending from before was good enough, what could possibly possess you to change from that?"

"I know," I replied softly, easily spotting the worried concern in my surrogate grandfather's expression before I sighed and ran my right hand through my spiky red hair. "Jiji," I began, "I wouldn't have let my team take this mission if I didn't think that we could and I didn't think it necessary and I wouldn't try and change it if I didn't think I would succeed. Important events, things that absolutely must occur, happen during the trip that much I can assure you. Kakashi will be more than capable of handling Zabuza, of that I'm sure, and even if he can't, I am certain that I can."

The Hokage's gaze became razor sharp as he focused his entire attention on my form before he asked, "You certain that you're strong enough, Noriko?"

I grimaced a little before nodding reluctantly as I replied, "The only thing I truly lack is combat experience against A and S rank foes, I am absolutely certain that in terms of strength, speed, and skill I am at least an A-Ranked ninja, bordering on S."

"How in the world..." Saurtobi began only to sit back in his chair and laugh softly, "You figured out the trick to the Kage Bushin, didn't you?"

I couldn't help but grin as I replied, "Got it in one, Jiji, and with my reserves I can easily make several dozen clones."

Shaking his head, Sarutobi reigned in his chuckles as he said, "And using your inheritance in turn would mean that you have truly become quite formidable, hasn't it?"

"It has," I replied with a grin and a nod.

The silence that followed for several moments held as Jiji looked upon me with pride, a warmth suffusing my face in mild embarrassment at his approval before he broke the silence and asked, "You're certain that you and Team 7 can handle this mission?"

"I am, Hokage-sama," I replied formally, letting him know I was serious about the matter, "If it follows my dream, then Sasuke and Sakura will learn about mortality and being willing to kill and Sasuke will unlock his Sharingan." -Even though he actually already had it, only no one but I knew about it, he might have to use it on the mission and I wanted a cover for the two of us if he did- "If I can swing it though, Sasuke will still get his Sharingan and I'll take up my role as head of the Uzumaki clan. And if things go perfectly, we'll get all of that and I'll be bringing back at least two retainers for my new position."

"And if things don't work out, Noriko-chan?" Hiruzen asked archly.

"Then we come back injured but wiser, and I have a back up method to ensure that Sasuke still gets his Sharingan if nothing else," I replied tersely.

The Hokage shook his head before giving a soft chuckle. "Between you and Konohamaru I'm going to lose that little hair I still have, Noriko-chan." I groused good naturedly.

"Oh hardly, we'll just make it all turn white instead of grey Jiji," I joked in return.

The old ninja rolled his eyes before making a shooing motion. "Get moving Noriko-chan, I've got other teams to take care of before the day is through." He said, a warm tone to his aged voice.

"See ya when we get back Jiji," I replied just as warmly, my husky, raspy voice coloring my reply just as much as my emotions before I turned and vanished in a Shunshin of wispy blue fire.

* * *

The next morning found Sasuke and Sakura waiting at the village gates alongside Tazuna, my too teammates looking rather restless as they waited for Kakashi and I while Tazuna looked more nervous than anything.

From my position atop the open gates I watched as they grew more and more irritable until Sasuke finally threw up his hands demanding, "Where the hell is Kakashi-sensei? It's already been two hours!" His exasperation was clear and I internally chuckled as I watched things play out as Sakura spoke up as well.

"And where's Noriko anyways? She's just as late as sensei!" Her voice wasn't raised too much but the shrill tone still bothered my overly sensitive ears even with my transformation.

Sasuke's response though was a snort as he rolled his eyes and replied, "Knowing her she's already here, just out of sight Sakura."

Oh how right he was, no sense in making him look foolish then.

A quite shunshin deposited me right behind Sakura as I raised a hand in greeting and spoke up.

"Sup."

Instantly Sakura leaped away, turning around in midair as she reached for a kunai before she calmed down as she saw who I was, instant irritation flaring on her face.

"Don't scare me like you baka!" She shouted.

I gave her a tiny glare as I met her eyes and replied, "You've made progress in being a decent kunoichi over the last month Sakura but you still need to pay more attention to your surroundings."

And it was true, with Kakashi-sensei actually teaching and my own efforts to get her to improve Sakura had advanced, at least physically, by leaps and bounds. Her mental state was still dubious. The fact that Sasuke and I counted each other as friends seemed to cause her no end to consternation as she believed I was edging into her territory.

I held in a sigh and shook my head as I spoke -in a very clear and loud voice- and simply said, "Hopefully sensei will stop hiding now since I showed myself, I really wouldn't want to have to go burn his books for being late."

There was an instant of silence before Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves as he greeted us.

"Yo." He said simply.

"Oh good, looks like I won't be burning your books sensei," I said nonchalantly.

"Indeed, I would hate having to burn your copies in retaliation Noriko-chan." He replied with an unhappy glare as I snorted.

"You couldn't get your hands on mine unless I willingly handed them over sensei," I retorted.

"I-" Kakashi began only to be interrupted by an irritated Sasuke.

"Can we get the hell on with the mission you two? We're already late." He growled at us.

I smiled in reply and nodded as Kakashi replied in his usual careless way and finally lead us out of the village after we signed out with Kotetsu and Izumo and finally got going on the road. Both Sasuke and Sakura looking at least a bit excited to be leaving the village for the first time.

I hardly noticed, I had been escaping the village as Ryuukoe for years now, it was hardly a new experience. Sadly my lack of reaction seemed to draw Kakashi's eye as I rolled my own in response when I caught his stare.

"It isn't that special, sensei," I said in a bored tone as I shrugged, "the outside doesn't feel much different than the wilder training grounds."

He stared for just a little longer and I guessed that he was figuring out which training ground I was referring to when his eye widened and I chuckled in return as I took my position around Tazuna, letting everyone else move in silence as we walked along.

* * *

There were a few attempts at small talk over the hours as we walked along, most of them made by Tazuna to break the silence that he seemed rather uncomfortable with. Personally I was debating whether or not it was a good thing when Sakura had managed to get into an animated discussion with the drunken old man about the construction of bridges, something that Tazuna seemed able to expound upon ad nausium in response to the pinkette's prompting questions. An hour into that discussion, I spotted a rather suspicious looking puddle ahead in the road and forced down the grin that wanted to spread across my face at the fact that the action would be starting soon.

Not to mention that my own machinations, clumsy as they were, would hopefully start coming to fruition.

A brief look to Kakashi with a slight tilt of my head confirmed that he had indeed noticed the enemy ninja when he slightly inclined his head in agreement. At that acknowledgement I did grin, my lips curving up in an almost feral smile as I mentally readied myself for the fight, no matter how brief it would be.

* * *

Kakashi wasn't quite sure what Noriko had planned for their ambushers as grin full of barely hidden blood lust broke over face before turned her head back to face forwards. Really, he almost felt pity for the two ninja he could sense were laying in wait for them to pass by. His sensei's daughter could keep up with him when he wasn't going all out and even then he could tell that the girl was holding back tremendously. So when the two enemy ninja leapt up from the puddle after they had passed it, he happy made use of a bunshin illusion and a kawarimi to escape the attack and watch his little students respond.

And respond they did.

The entire group had whirled to see what had happened, with Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna all looked wide-eyed at his apparent death. Noriko meanwhile, had barely glanced at his hiding place in the trees before leaping into action. The ambushing ninja, the C-Rank Demon Brothers he noted, had just barely managed to say "one down" before she had retaliated. In an instant, Noriko had vanished from her spot close to the brothers only to reappear as the group's eyes caught up at the tail end of a whirling round house kick to the chest of the brother on the right.

The blow echoed with the distinct cracking of bones before the targeted nuke-nin had been hurtled off his feet and into the foliage where he impacted a tree and collapsed unconscious. The second ninja hadn't had time to even take that all in though before the chain that connected the pair had gone taught, hauling the man off his feet with a yelp to go crashing into the underbrush after his brother. The reprisal had certain caught most of the group off guard as Sakura and Tazuna stared in amazement at the attack Noriko had landed before being distracted as Sasuke shot forwards with a kunai, meeting the charging return of the second brother as he returned to the fight after releasing the chain connecting him and his sibling and recovering from the unexpected trip.

A series of rapid fire blows flew between the pair before Sasuke landed a hard punch to the nin's gut, knocking the air from his lungs and pushing him back as he struggled to catch his breath before Noriko reappeared behind him and dropped the man with a chop to the neck. Deciding it was time to give up the act lest he endanger his precious books, Kakashi reappeared in a swirl of leaves as he eye-smiled at his students.

"Ah, good job my little genin. If you're willing, please go round up our attackers while I have a few words with our client, would you?"

Noriko snorted in amusement before she stalked off the path to retrieve the first brother she had incapacitated while Sasuke almost literally dragged Sakura along to help him deal with the second one. In the meantime, he chose to loom ominously over Tazuna as he waited to see what secrets the man would spill.

-break-

"So basically our client lied, we've got a ridiculously rich shipping magnate hiring missing nin, and a potential humanitarian crisis in Wave. Did I miss anything?"

My sardonic drawl broke the tense silence that had fallen after Kakashi had laid out the facts about how Tazuna had lied about the details and danger level of the mission and now everything was arse over tit. As everyone looked at me for my weird turn of phrase, I simply shrugged in indifference before Kakashi briefly cleared his throat and replied.

"No, I'm fairly sure you covered it all. The question now is do we continue the mission or do we return to Konoha?"

Sasuke and Sakura both looked a touch unsure, the latter far more so than the former, but eventually Sasuke nodded to our sensei and voiced his opinion that we continue. Something which Sakura proceeded to nervously support a moment later. As their eyes turned back to me again, I made a considering hum before I replied.

"Well if we don't go, we can pretty much be assured that Tazuna and likely everyone in Wave will be dead before the month is over.-" No one looked pleased at that, particularly the sudden nauseous Tazuna off to the side. "-If we do go, we'll be against unknown numbers, a man more than willing to likely hire additional mercenaries."

I held my hands out and raised and lowered them in a parody of a set of scales as I hummed with supposed thought before shrugging as I seemingly made my mind up.

"Let's go to Wave, I'm bored and were wasting time here. Besides, as team leader, this was your decision in the first place sensei."

Tazuna gave an audible sigh of relief as Kakashi arched an eyebrow at my antics before shrugging and gesturing for us to move out. As I started to move towards my position, I felt contact on the back of my head as Sasuke landed a dope slap.

"Quit being so damn dramatic, Dobe," he said with a roll of his eyes, though I spotted the small smirk curling the edges of his lips as he ignored the glare I sent him in return. With a huff of annoyance, I ignored Kurama's snickers in the back of my mind as we got moving again.

* * *

The trip to Wave would take three days, leaving Kakashi and his team on the road for two nights which meant sleeping in the wilderness. To a degree he was thankful as it gave him a bit more insight into his gennin then he had been able to gather prior to accepting his assignment. For while information on Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke had been easy enough to come by, hard facts about his sensei's daughter had been rarer than one of Tsunade's successful bets.

There had been the academy reports that painted her as nothing but an idiot and a troublemaker, but he had known for a fact that those were false. The privacy and security seals that filled his student's apartment told a very different story, one that said Noriko was ridiculously paranoid, even beyond the standard of normal ninja. While Kakashi certainly wasn't a seal master himself, one didn't hang around Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina without learning something about seals. The seals that Noriko used to defend her apartment were honestly terrified him from what he could understand. He saw sections that deduced the intention of those visiting, parts that altered and blurred the view of what happened inside, and chunks that obscured chakra signatures. But most of the seals were beyond him.

So he was now forced to use this C-Rank mission as a way to find out more about Noriko and the others, hopefully without the possibility of being suck into a storage seal before being ejected inside out. And while Noriko had put some alert seals down in the area surrounding their camp, there was nothing particularly mean or obscure in her defenses. So now he got his first chance in several years to see how she behaved while asleep.

Of note, his sensei's daughter eschewed sleeping on the ground in a bedroll to instead curl up in the crook of a tree branch high off the ground. She was also incredibly high strung, as he nearly lost a hand to her kunai when he attempted to wake her for her shift on watch. The speed with which she had wielded that diminutive blade was way beyond any gennin, including that lunatic Gai's student. Were it not for his ANBU skills he probably would have lost at least a few fingers, but as it was, he had managed to escape unharmed and had simply received a warning from his student to be more careful waking her.

So as the trip progressed towards Wave, Kakashi was finding only more questions where he had been looking for answers.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So new poll up on my author page: Do you guys want chapters to stay this long, or would you rather I do shorter 1-2k chapter at a likely higher frequency?


	14. Chapter 14

**Naruto SI 14**

 **AN:** Shorter chapter than I'd like, explanation is at the bottom, now to preface the chapter itself.

Some of Noriko's behavior I'll state is flat out inspired by and borrowed from the amazing story "Wrath of a Woman Scorned". Just because Noriko knows the line is coming doesn't make it any easier. She's sitting on more than a decade of repressed hatred and anger, even if she knows the state is born of ignorance, that doesn't make it any easier on her.

 **NOTE:** This Has Not Been Beta'd

* * *

After nearly three days of civilian paced walking, my temper was starting to run out. I hadn't snapped at anyone, but I was close and constantly getting closer, no thanks to Tazuna's 'Super' verbal tic and Kakashi routinely trying to spy on me when he thought I wasn't paying attention. On Tazuna's verbal tic, I couldn't really complain given that I had my own issue with 'dattebane' but I did at least make an effort to curb how often I said it, if only to avoid catching shit from Kurama-tou-san. Kakashi, though, had no excuse beyond his own curiosity, and if he manages to avoid losing a hand before we finish this mission I might be willing to indulge him. That is if I don't just beat his ass for pissing me off

It seemed we were getting close to our destination though, as Tazuna had just negotiated our crossing with a smuggler who was going to take us across once we were all loaded up. I cast a few doubtful looks at the dingy but took a seat at the front, settling down into silence as the smuggler pushed us away from the dock and out into the channel. It took several minutes of travel through the fog, but as I had been expecting, Tazuna's brige eventually became visible, drawing a series of 'oohs' and 'ahs' from my teammates.

I made a token effort to seem impressed, but really, it wasn't too amazing. For the standards of this world, it certainly was pretty damn impressive, but compared to the likes of the Golden Gate, the Millau Viaduct, or the numerous bridges of Route 101, Tazuna's construction was simply lacking in my opinion. I instead spent the time focusing my senses outwards to pick up Zabuza's and Haku's chakra signatures, fortunately finding them without going into Sage mode -as that was a skill I certainly didn't want to have exposed anytime soon.

So once we landed in Wave, I kept a sharp focus on their locations as we started towards Tazuna's home through the mist until I leaned back just a touch while Kakashi yanked Sakura to the ground and Sasuke did the same for our client an instant before the form of Kubikiribocho whirled just over their heads and a few scant centimeters from my nose.

The blade had flown straight past us and had imbedded itself into a tree at which point Zabuza revealed himself, so from there I let things play out as they had in canon. There were more than a few moments when I wanted to leap in and settle things myself, but for now I held back. It was only when Kakashi got himself captured that I decided to change things, still letting Sasuke send me flying as a fuma shuriken. Only instead of throwing a second fuma from behind after passing Zabuza by, I made a palm strike to the back of his head. It was no where near my full strength and honestly not even enough to really daze the missing-nin, but the blow was enough to make him take a step away and release the water prison jutsu.

More importantly though, it was ample opportunity for me to plant a Hiraishin seal on his head, hidden from sight by his surprisingly soft hair.

That...actually baffled me for a moment before I beat feet for the shore as Kakashi and Zabuza got back into it. A missing ninja that spends weeks, if not months on the road should not have hair that soft. It should require regular treatment with shampoo and conditioner to achieve hair that soft. I should know after all, it's a task and a half to keep my own fiery mane soft when I'm within Konoha's walls with daily access to a shower.

Fucking ridiculous really.

The rest of the fight proceeded the way it had in canon and so there was Haku, disabling Zabuza with a few senbon before carrying him away. And then there goes Kakashi, collapsing from chakra exhaustion. Really, it was rather annoying and more than a bit embarrassing just how much Kakashi had let his skills deteriorate after he had left ANBU.

Rubbing the back of my neck with a sigh, I made my way over to Kakashi and picked him up, slinging him over my shoulderinto the best fireman carry I could give thanks to my limited height before looking sharply to my teammates.

"Sasuke, Sakura, protect Tazuna. We still need to get to his house and we haven't finished the mission yet so who knows what's still ahead of us."

I barked out my statement, making my orders clear to the pair. Sakura was thankfully too cowed by the previous fight to argue and Sasuke was smart enough to listen and so settled for a single nod of agreement as he took up the rear of the formation so we could get moving. Thank Kami that the last leg of this wretched trip would only take us an hour or so.

One blissful, quiet hour in which no one wanted to talk.

Of course, the lovely quiet ended all too soon as Tazuna flung open the door to his home in order to announce his return and our arrival. His daughter, Tsunami was waiting of course and she was as kind as could be about the our presence in her home. She immediately noted Kakashi's condition and directed me to take him to an upstairs room where I laid him out on a futon and left a shadow clone to care for him before I followed Taunami downstairs so she could begin preparing dinner.

I offered to help, if only to pass the time and the smile Tsunami shot me in thanks actually put a small blush of embarrassment on my cheeks as Sasuke smirked at me from the corner of my eye. I held back on sticking my tongue out in return and focused my attention back on Tsunami and the meal as I pulled a scroll from my pocket to offer the use of some of my stored food in the night's dinner.

The fact that the young mother's expression just made my heart melt every time she smiled had absolutely nothing to do with why I kept helping.

* * *

It was a day before Kakashi had recovered enough to even wake up. It was another day before he then found himself feeling well enough to hobble around Tazuna's house where we had more or less setup camp.

Once he had ascertained that his little gennin -aka us- were doing our job properly and guarding Tazuna while work continued on the bridge, Kakashi allowed himself to relax a bit as he settled in at the table with everyone else save the builder's grandson, a small boy he had glimpsed on only a few occasions throughout the day.

I was not looking forwards to the inevitable encounter I was going to have. I wasn't the ever forgiving Naruto. I didn't have a streak of cheerful optimism three miles wide and fifty long. And I certainly didn't have the plucky blonde's ability to accept anything and just keep going.

No.

I wasn't anything like that. I was a monster, pure and simple. I was cruel, ruthless, and vindictive. I held a grudge like my adoptive father, and only my love for a few people and my foreknowledge about what was to come kept me from acting on said grudges.

And for all that I knew that Inari was only a small child lashing out in his grief, I feared that everything I had partitioned away -my anger, my hate, and my rage- would escape my desperate control.

But then the moment came, as all of us bar Inari sat around the dinner table to eat and Tsunami told her son to go wash up. Rather than complying though, the boy had started talking -yelling really- at us about how we should just give up because it was hopeless. And then he uttered those words, and even if I knew they were coming, it didn't make it any less painful. They weren't exactly the same as in the manga or anime, but they were close enough, and they hurt no less for the difference.

"You don't know anything about what it's like to suffer!"

* * *

Kakashi nearly choked on the stew he'd been about to swallow when the little boy -Inari he reminded himself belatedly- shouted his claim that Team 7 knew nothing about suffering. The kitchen lapsed into absolute silence as Kakashi focused his attention on the reaction of his genin team, a sense of terror briefly gripping at his heart as he felt the brief flare of both Noriko's and Sasuke's chakras in reaction.

It was sort of odd that the latter of the two had the more measurable reaction, and he would have thought Noriko was almost unaffected by the careless remark were it not for the sense of utter anger/hatred/loathing/rage/fury that permeated the tiny flicker of her chakra. A minuscule flare that reminded him all too much of what he had felt twelve years ago on October tenth and then again six years ago on the same. But then the flare was gone, just as quickly as it had appeared, and he felt Noriko's chakra vanish from his senses despite her close proximity as her entire face blanked.

He would have thought that the killing intent that filled the room alongside the spike in Noriko's chakra for an instant was his imagination had it not been for just how utterly suffocating it had been.

"I'm afraid I've lost my appetite, Tsunami-san," the young kunoichi said softly as she set down her spoon.

He watched Noriko carefully as she stood from her seat and walked from the room, seemingly perfectly calm. He would have thought she was calm too had it not been for that brief, terrifyingly familiar flare in Noriko's chakra before she had blanked. Indeed, for all the emotion Noriko had displayed in the last few moments, she might as well have been made of stone. It was only when the sound of the front door opening and closing echoed through the house that Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief before turning his lone eye to face a trembling Inari who seemed to have realized that he had majorly screwed up.

"I suspect-" he began, his voice almost contemplative, "-that you are extraordinarily lucky to be alive, Inari-kun," He finished softly, his eye closing as he reflected on the last time he had felt his sensei's daughter feel anywhere near that furious.

"W-What do you mean?" Tazuna managed to spit out after a second of stunned silence at Kakashi's words. The former ANBU grimaced under his mask as he recalled the vivid memories of the last time he had seen Noriko that angry before he responded.

"...Noriko-san had suffered, Tazuna-san, far more than either of us can imagine. Even if we knew the full extent of everything she has endured -and I am certain no one but she does- I doubt we could understand." He answered, "And for all that she behaves like a normal girl, Noriko is anything but."

The ground suddenly shaking in accompaniment to the dull roar of a large explosion in the distance punctuated his statement and put an end to the conversation.

* * *

I didn't return that night.

And when morning came, I settled for merely dispatching a trio of blood clones to take over my duties guarding Tazuna and helping with construction at the bridge rather than returning.

Instead, I chose to use my time to deal with the other issue at hand, or at least a part of it. And that issue was Gato. The little shit wouldn't be leaving Wave alive no matter what, but simply killing him would be a tremendous waste of resources. His shipping company was the largest in the Elemental Nations and were they put under the control of someone I considered an ally, then they could be useful. Who the company would be turned over to was very much up for debate, perhaps Tazuna or my some select part of the Konoha command structure. Kami knows I had no desire to run it myself so that meant I needed to find someone I could count on to not fuck me over to run it.

But that wasn't what I was current out to take care of, no I was going to see to it that Zabuza and Haku knew the truth about their current boss and thusly made the correct choice about their futures.

All of that said, I only waited long enough for Gato to arrive, demand his explanation, and leave before I moved in. A simple shunshin brought me to the door where, like the proper young lady that I was, I knocked. I instantly noted the way that both chakra signatures inside stilled and tensed before the one that felt like ice and mint moved towards the door. I took a step back to get out of the range of immediate retaliation as I fixed a polite smile on my face when the signature that was undoubtedly Haku finally opened the door.

I immediately noted the tense readiness that filled the lines of his face the instant he spotted me, so rather than beating around the bush, I got right to the heart of the matter.

"If I may come in Haku-san, I have a business proposition for your master."

The door snapped shut for a moment as Haku's signature shunshined back to Zabuza's side for a moment before returning and opening the door wider as he stepped aside.

"You may enter Kunoichi-san, but do not try anything please."

The unspoken threat of what would happen in retaliation nearly made me scoff, Zabuza might pose a challenge if I chose to fight him with my own sword by dint of his skill, but in a straight up ninjutsu or speed based fight, I was far out of Haku's league.

* * *

It took only a handful of seconds to be lead through the small cabin Zabuza and Haku were holed up in before I was face-to-face with the 'Demon of the Mist'. The baleful glare he fixed me with from his position on the bed told me exactly what he thought of me well before he spoke.

"You're one of Kakashi's little gennin brats aren't you?" He stated coarsely, I recognized it for the rhetorical question it was though and stayed silent as he continued. "What the hell are you here for?"

I felt my mask flicker slightly in annoyance before I regained control of my emotions as replied.

"I'm here to discuss a business proposition with you Zabuza-san, as well as to potentially save both yours and Haku-san's lives."

"I'm listening, brat."

* * *

 **OMAKE**

 **~October 10th, Twelve years post-Kyuubi~**

In the twelve years since I had been reborn into the world of Naruto, the vast majority of Konoha's villagers had made their opinion of me abundantly clear.

They hated me.

And I hated them right back.

So there was obviously no love lost between us, especially on the days leading up to, and in particularly on, my birthday. And every time October 10th rolled around, their reactions and my treatment at their hands became decidedly worse. So after having been pelted with rotten fruit the day before I decided a little revenge was in order.

As such, at precisely 4:59 AM, three hundred previously camouflaged clones, protected by a relatively low quality barrier, left their disguised positions and assembled across the roofs of several buildings. Each of the three hundred clones then created one copy of themselves and said copy than transformed themselves into an instrument.

Divided into equal groups, the transformed clones provided the necessary equipment to outfit my original compliment of three hundred clones into four groups of seventy-five, each group equipped with either base drums, tenor drums, or bagpipes.

And so in the last few seconds before five o'clock, my clones took their final positions and as soon as the clock struck 5:00 AM...

...they began to play.

It started with a lone snare drummer atop a spike of the Yondaime statue's hair before a second clone joined in, stationed on another spike of the Yondaime's hair. In an instant, as the skirl of the Scottish instrument echoed across the entirety of Konohagakure no Sato the entire village was awoken as sound enhancement seals -which helped the sound to carry without making it louder- ensured that not only did all of Konoha hear my chosen wake-up call, so did every living creature for about five or six miles.

Hard of hearing or not.

ANBU were already rushing towards my lone pair of clones atop the Hokage Monument within twenty seconds, which of course was when the two and ninety-eight clones began to play.

The resounding notes of _Scotland the Brave_ rang out across the village, and with a group of three hundred pipers and drummers it was nearly deafening; doubly so with my enhanced hearing, but even then I couldn't wipe the shit-ratting grin off my face as I watched ANBU, jounin, and chunin struggle to force their way past my barriers while I watched from the very top of the Hokage's Tower.

My band of clones managed to successfully play without interruption for nearly five straight minutes before finally stopping as Konoha's defenders breached the last defensive barrier. At which point, all of my clones stopped playing, identical foxy grins on all their faces before they gave a bow to the rather irritated ninja that had come to take them out.

And then they vanished in a cloud of smoke.

And when the smoke finally disappeared, everyone in Konoha was treated to a very large banner having been strung across the front of the Hokage's Tower.

It simply read " _No-one provokes me with impunity_ ".

* * *

 **AN:** So yeah, I'm not dead, just horribly distracted. I maintain a thrice weekly update speed for a Planetary Annihilation/Multicross story over on SpaceBattles and SufficientVelocity, so a lot of my muse gets taken up by that. Beyond distractions though, my health has been crap which has slowed me down even more which just plain sucks.

Anyways, no idea when the next chapter will come out, but just know I'm alive and still writing.


End file.
